Carl B. Stokes*

Carl Stokes was born in Cleveland in 1927. His father was a laundry worker who died when Stokes was two. His widowed mother supported her two sons by working as a domestic helper. Stokes helped by working as a newspaper carrier and in neighborhood stores.

Although he was a good student, Stokes dropped out of high school in 1944 to work full time for Thompson Products. He joined the U.S. Army at age 18, was discharged in 1946, and then returned to Cleveland to earn his high school diploma in 1947. He attended several colleges before earning a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota in 1954 and his law degree from Cleveland-Marshall School of Law in 1956.

In 1962, Stokes became the first black Democrat to be elected to the Ohio legislature. In 1967, he was elected mayor of Cleveland, making him the first African American mayor of a major U.S. city. He was re-elected in 1969. President Bill Clinton appointed him as U.S. ambassador to the Republic of Seychelles.