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 Gov-
ernment Reform 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States 
Postal Service should issue a postage stamp in com-
memoration of Carl B. Stokes. 
Whereas Carl B. Stokes was a political pioneer and a cru-
sader 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 Tech-
nical 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 grad-
uated 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 rela-
tions were strained at the time, such as Romania and 
Yugoslavia; he was also sent to the Caribbean, on mis-
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•HCON 119 IH 
sions to Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Barbados, and Trini-
dad; 
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 offi-
cial 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 re-
turned 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 col-
leagues 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 Cleve-
land Municipal Court; 
Whereas, on August 26, 1994, President William J. Clinton 
appointed then-Judge Carl B. Stokes as Ambassador Ex-
traordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to 
the Republic of the Seychelles; 
Whereas while serving as Ambassador, Carl B. Stokes be-
came 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 univer-
sities around the country, and served as a visiting lec-
turer 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 polit-
ical power to break down racial barriers and offer un-
precedented 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. 
Æ 
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