When Stokes took office in 1969 there was little black representation in politics, but the civil rights movement had helped to give way to the emergence of black political power. Stokes realized that as a black congressman he couldn’t serve the same way as white representatives could, he felt he had an obligation to represent African Americans everywhere. So not long after his election, Stokes and several other black congressmen and women began forming the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). The CBC which still exists today, mission was, and still is, to challenge the status quo and leverage its political force to advocate and influence issues of special concern that affected black communities nationwide.