Louis Stokes never forgot his Cleveland roots. The congressman is shown here with students from The Law and Public Service Magnet School. Stokes was very involved and beloved in the community, and was known for his ability to talk with people from all walks of life. His legacy is honored through the naming of various Cleveland institutions like the Louis Stokes Laboratories at the National Institute of Health, the Louis Stokes wing of Cleveland Public Library, the Louis Stokes Head Start, the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center, and the Louis Stokes Station at Windermere.
On November 5, 1968, Louis Stokes was elected Congressman of the 21st Congressional District of Ohio on his first try for public office. This 1969 newspaper article shows Congressman Stokes with his brother, and Cleveland’s first African American Mayor, Carl Stokes. They’re shown here in front of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C after his swearing into Congress. He began his tenure as a congressman in the US House of Representatives in 1969, at a time when there were only 7 African Americans serving, but as Stokes remarks in his book The Gentleman from Ohio, “I didn’t have any qualms that I’d be able to take my place there. I was ready to go to Washington—and go to work.” And he did just that.