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[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 119 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 119

Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States Postal Service 
    should issue a postage stamp in commemoration of Carl B. Stokes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 5, 2009

Mr. Clay (for himself and Ms. Fudge) submitted the following concurrent 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States Postal Service 
    should issue a postage stamp in commemoration of Carl B. Stokes.

Whereas Carl B. Stokes was a political pioneer and a crusader for civil rights;
Whereas Carl B. Stokes was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 21, 1927, to Charles 
        Stokes, a laundry worker, and Louise Stokes, a domestic cleaning woman;
Whereas Carl B. Stokes was raised in the Outhwaite Homes, Cleveland's first 
        federally funded housing project;
Whereas in 1944, Carl B. Stokes dropped out of East Technical High School and 
        enlisted in the United States Army, from which he was honorably 
        discharged in 1947, and, at age 20, he returned to, and subsequently 
        graduated from, East Technical High School;
Whereas Carl B. Stokes earned a bachelor's degree from the University of 
        Minnesota in 1954 and graduated from Cleveland-Marshall Law School with 
        a Doctor of Laws degree in 1956;
Whereas Carl B. Stokes was admitted to the Ohio Bar and became an assistant city 
        prosecutor for Cleveland, Ohio;
Whereas Carl B. Stokes's accomplishments included several first's for an 
        African-American: specifically, in addition to being the first Black 
        mayor of a major American city, he was the first African-American ever 
        to be directly elected to all 3 branches of Government;
Whereas in November 1962, Carl B. Stokes became the first Black Democrat ever to 
        be elected to the Ohio General Assembly;
Whereas, on November 13, 1967, Carl B. Stokes received international attention 
        when he was sworn in as Mayor of the City of Cleveland, and, since 
        Cleveland was only 37 percent Black at that time, it also marked the 
        first time that an African-American was elected mayor of a predominantly 
        White major city in the United States;
Whereas in that election, Clevelanders chose Carl B. Stokes, the grandson of a 
        slave, over Seth Taft, the grandson of a United States president;
Whereas subsequently, Carl B. Stokes was asked by the White House to represent 
        the United States on goodwill trips to Europe, in which capacity he was 
        received by many heads of state, including nations with which relations 
        were strained at the time, such as Romania and Yugoslavia; he was also 
        sent to the Caribbean, on missions to Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, 
        Barbados, and Trinidad;
Whereas the election of Carl B. Stokes as America's first Black mayor of a major 
        American city was the impetus and inspiration for Black political 
        aspiration all over the Nation;
Whereas Carl B. Stokes's pioneering political achievement in a predominantly 
        White city caused Blacks in a number of other major cities, including 
        New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, to believe 
        that if Carl B. Stokes could be elected mayor of Cleveland, they too 
        could be elected mayor of their city, which, in fact, proved to be the 
        case;
Whereas in 1970, the 15,000 member National League of Cities, composed of mayors 
        and other local officials from throughout the Nation, unanimously voted 
        Carl B. Stokes president-elect of their organization--the first Black 
        official ever to hold that office;
Whereas after completing 2 terms as mayor, Carl B. Stokes decided to end his 
        political career and begin a new one in broadcast journalism;
Whereas in April 1972, Carl B. Stokes became the first Black anchorman to appear 
        daily on a television news program in New York City, at the National 
        Broadcasting Company's flagship station, WNBC-TV;
Whereas in September 1980, after 8 years as an Emmy award-winning broadcast 
        journalist, Carl B. Stokes returned to Cleveland to the practice of law, 
        and became the first Black lawyer to serve as general counsel to a major 
        American labor union--the United Auto Workers, Regions 2 and 2A;
Whereas, on November 8, 1983, Carl B. Stokes was elected Judge of Cleveland 
        Municipal Court, Ohio's largest court;
Whereas a few weeks later, on December 22nd, his 12 colleagues elected him 
        Administrative Judge of the Court, and on January 9, 1984, his fellow 
        judges elected him as their Presiding Judge;
Whereas never before had a freshman judge been elected both Administrative Judge 
        and Presiding Judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court;
Whereas, on August 26, 1994, President William J. Clinton appointed then-Judge 
        Carl B. Stokes as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the 
        United States to the Republic of the Seychelles;
Whereas while serving as Ambassador, Carl B. Stokes became ill, returned to 
        Cleveland, Ohio, and, on April 3, 1996, died;
Whereas once a high school dropout, Carl B. Stokes received honorary doctorate 
        degrees from 14 colleges and universities around the country, and served 
        as a visiting lecturer at academic universities and business 
        institutions throughout the United States, Trinidad, Haiti, Puerto Rico, 
        the Bahamas, England, France, Germany, and Italy;
Whereas in recognition of Carl B. Stokes's extraordinary achievements, Public 
        Law 105-218, which was signed into law on August 7, 1998, designated the 
        United States courthouse in Cleveland, Ohio, as the Carl B. Stokes 
        United States Courthouse; and
Whereas Carl B. Stokes remains one of the greatest political leaders in American 
        history; his feat of being elected America's first Black mayor of a 
        major American city changed the landscape of politics in this Nation and 
        made him the first Black American to acquire the political power to 
        break down racial barriers and offer unprecedented opportunities for 
        minorities: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the United States Postal Service should issue a postage 
        stamp commemorating Carl B. Stokes; and
            (2) the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend 
        to the Postmaster General that such a stamp be issued.
                                 <all>
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