IV 

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, 


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•HCON 119 IH 

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 misVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:24 May 06, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HC119.IH HC119

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•HCON 119 IH 

sions 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; 


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•HCON 119 IH 

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 


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•HCON 119 IH 

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 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 

3 (1) the United States Postal Service should 

4 issue a postage stamp commemorating Carl B. 

5 Stokes; and 

6 (2) the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee 

7 should recommend to the Postmaster General that 

8 such a stamp be issued. 

Æ 


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