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Notable people · Mayor · Politician · Diplomat

Carl B. Stokes

Elected mayor of Cleveland in November 1967, one of the first two African Americans elected to lead a U.S. city of more than 100,000 people.

Born June 21, 1927, Cleveland (Central neighborhood)
Died April 3, 1996, Cleveland (Cleveland Clinic)

Carl B. Stokes
Nohop / CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

At a glance

Born
June 21, 1927, Cleveland (Central neighborhood) (Cuyahoga County) source
Died
April 3, 1996, Cleveland (Cleveland Clinic) (Cuyahoga County) source
Buried
Lake View Cemetery, Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) source
Also known as
Carl B. Stokes, Carl Stokes
Education
East Technical High School, Cleveland, OH, diploma
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, to 1954, B.S.
Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland, OH, to 1956, law degree
Known as
Mayor, Politician, Diplomat
Organizations
City of Cleveland

Life story

Carl Stokes was born in Cleveland in 1927, raised by his mother in public housing after his father died when he was small. His brother Louis later became a congressman.

He left high school to work, served in the Army, and finished his diploma at East Technical High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota (1954) and a Cleveland-Marshall law degree (1956).

After work as a probation officer, prosecutor and Ohio House member, he lost a 1965 mayoral race and won in 1967, becoming the first Black mayor of a major American city. He was reelected in 1969 amid the Glenville shootout.

He led the National League of Cities, became a New York TV anchor, returned to Cleveland, was a municipal judge from 1983, and served as ambassador to Seychelles in 1994-95. He died in 1996.

Ohio ties

  • Cleveland (Central; Outhwaite Homes) (1927-1940s)
    birthplace and childhood in public housing Cuyahoga County · source
  • Columbus (Ohio House of Representatives) (elected 1962; three terms)
    state representative in the Ohio House Franklin County · source
  • Cleveland (City Hall, 601 Lakeside Avenue) (1968-1971)
    mayor of Cleveland, two terms Cuyahoga County · source
  • Cleveland (1980-1994)
    UAW general counsel; Cleveland Municipal Court judge 1983-1994 Cuyahoga County · source

Timeline

  1. 1927 Born June 21 in Cleveland. source
  2. 1944 Left high school to work at Thompson Products (later TRW), then joined the Army at 18. source
  3. 1947 Earned his high school diploma at East Technical High School after his discharge. source
  4. 1956 Graduated from Cleveland-Marshall Law School, after a 1954 bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota. source
  5. 1962 Elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, the first Black Democrat to win a seat there. source
  6. 1965 Narrowly lost his first race for mayor of Cleveland. source
  7. 1967 Elected mayor on November 7 over Seth Taft with about 50.5 percent; Richard Hatcher was elected in Gary, Indiana, the same day. source
  8. 1968 The Glenville shootout of July 23-24 and the riots that followed badly damaged support for his Cleveland: NOW! program. source
  9. 1969 Re-elected mayor. source
  10. 1970 Named the National League of Cities' first Black president-elect. source
  11. 1971 Chose not to seek a third term. source
  12. 1972 Became the first Black anchorman in New York City, at WNBC-TV. source
  13. 1983 Began eleven years as a Cleveland Municipal Court judge. source
  14. 1994 Appointed U.S. ambassador to the Seychelles by President Bill Clinton; diagnosed with esophageal cancer while serving. source
  15. 1996 Died April 3 at the Cleveland Clinic; buried at Lake View Cemetery. source
  16. 2022 A Cleveland Civil Rights Trail marker (148-18) was unveiled outside Cleveland City Hall on June 8. source

What Carl is known for

  • Mayor of Cleveland 1968-1971
  • Ambassador to Seychelles 1994-95
  • First Black president, National League of Cities (1970)
  • Elected Cleveland mayor 1967
  • Environmental reforms after the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire
  • U.S. Ambassador to the Seychelles 1994-95
  • Ambassador to Seychelles 1994-1995

Stories

Glenville, July 1968

Seven months into Stokes's first term, a gun battle broke out on the night of July 23, 1968, in Cleveland's Glenville neighborhood between police and an armed group led by Ahmed Evans. Three police officers, three suspects and a bystander were killed, and rioting went on for several days. Stokes first kept white officers out of the area, set up a cordon with the National Guard and police on the perimeter and 125 Black patrolmen inside, and leaned on community volunteers; the arrangement was widely judged a failure, and on July 25 he sent white police and more Guard troops back in under a curfew. Then news reports revealed that Evans had used part of a $6,000 Cleveland: NOW! grant to buy weapons. Business and political support for Stokes's signature rebuilding campaign collapsed, and white police resentment lingered through the rest of his time in office.

Source

From Outhwaite to City Hall

Stokes's father, a laundry worker, died before Carl was two, and his mother Louise, a domestic worker, raised Carl and his brother Louis in the Outhwaite Homes, Cleveland's first federally funded public housing project. Carl quit high school at 17 to work at Thompson Products, went into the Army, and came back to finish at East Tech. He went on to the University of Minnesota, Cleveland-Marshall Law School, the Ohio House and City Hall. The state historical marker on Woodland Avenue sums up the arc: a boy who grew up poor with his mother and brother Louis became the first Black Democrat in the Ohio legislature and mayor of Cleveland.

Source

Inventions and firsts

All Ohio inventions and firsts

Honors and things named for them

  • Carl B. Stokes U.S. Court House, Cleveland (2002)
  • Stokes Boulevard
  • CMHA Carl Stokes Center

Named for Carl B. Stokes

Family

  • brother: Louis Stokes
  • mother: Louise Stone Stokes
  • father: Charles Stokes

Sites to know

Homes, graves, markers, museums and monuments; the numbered ones are on the map.

123
  • 1 Ohio Historical Marker 64-18, Honorable Carl B. Stokes
    Cleveland, 6001 Woodland Avenue Cuyahoga County · source
  • 2 Ohio Historical Marker 148-18, Carl Burton Stokes (1927-1996) / Cleveland's Mayor Stokes, Cleveland City Hall
    Cleveland, 601 Lakeside Avenue E. Cuyahoga County · source
  • 3 Stokes grave, Lake View Cemetery (coordinates are for the cemetery)
    Cleveland / Cleveland Heights Cuyahoga County · source

Places in Ohio to see

Ohio places

Where Carl B. Stokes was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Myths and corrections

Things often said about Carl B. Stokes, and what the record shows.

Often said Stokes was the first Black mayor of a major American city, full stop.

The record Richard Hatcher was elected mayor of Gary, Indiana, on the same day, November 7, 1967, and took office January 1, 1968; the two share the distinction for cities over 100,000. Wikipedia also notes Walter Washington had been appointed, not elected, to lead Washington, D.C. source

  • Disputed: He is often called the first Black mayor of a major U.S. city. Richard Hatcher of Gary, Indiana, was elected on the same day in 1967, though Gary is not one of the largest cities, and Stokes took office first. Walter Washington was also appointed mayor of Washington, D.C. that year.

Pictures

Free to use with the credit shown. Select a picture for the original and its license.

  • ● Frame(s): WHPO-0880-06A-16A, Vice President Agnew and Daniel Moynihan holding a press conference with mayors of large
    ● Frame(s): WHPO-0880-06A-16A, Vice President Agnew and Daniel Moynihan holding a press conference with mayors...
    Public domain
  • Bob Madison shakes hands with Cleveland elected mayor Carl Stokes.
    Bob Madison shakes hands with Cleveland elected mayor Carl Stokes.
    Nohop / CC BY-SA 4.0

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.

Every link goes to the original source. Profile researched 2026-10-14.

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