Dee Perry spent 40 years as a Cleveland radio broadcaster. She hosted programs on Cleveland's public radio station, WCPN, where she was a leader in promoting the Arts. She has conducted more than 10,000 interviews and was the lead interviewer for the Stokes Oral History Project.
Leon Bibb's family moved to Cleveland from Alabama, when he was a child. He graduated from Glenville High School. After graduating from Bowing Green State University, his career in journalism was interrupted by the Vietnam War, where he received a Bronze Star for his service under fire. He worked as a television reporter in Toledo and Columbus before returning to Cleveland in 1979 to become an anchor and reporter at WKYC Channel 3. He retired in 2017.
Lori Stokes is the youngest child of Louis Stokes. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University and Howard University. She has worked in television journalism since 1986, reporting for stations in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Baltimore, Maryland. She also worked at MSNBC and is currently a morning television anchor in New York City.
Louis "Chuck" Stokes is the only sone of Louis Stokes. He began his career as a sports writer for the Washington Post. For over 30 years he has been the editorial/public affairs moderator for news and public affairs show "Spotlight on the News" for WXYZ in Detroit, Michigan.
Shown shortly after winning his first election, Louis Stokes is shown with his wife Jay and their four children. Stokes was very proud of his family, and said of his of his wife and of their 55 years of marriage “I can hardly believe my good fortune...my children, my inspirational wife…all I can say is that I have been more than fortunate; I have been blessed.” From r to l: Jay, Lori, Louis Sr., Shelley, Chuckie, and Angela.
16mm black and white silent film, undated, showing an unknown wedding, Wilkins School of Cosmetology graduation at Phillis Wheatley Building, and church service at St. John African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Marcia L. Fudge was raised in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and served as Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones during her first term. Ms. Fudge was mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, from 2000 until elected to Congress in 2008. She chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 2013 until 2015.
Rev. Samuel Tidmore, IV, was an aide to Louis Stokes during his early years in Congress. Rev. Tidmore was born in Decatur, Illinois, in 1938, but moved to Cleveland, Ohio, as a child. He graduated from John Adams High School and attended the Ohio State University. He is a former NFL linebacker who played for the Cleveland Browns in 1962 and 1963. He later became a business consultant and an owner of fast food franchises. During the late 1970s, he served as chapter vice president of the Cleveland chapter of Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity), a project begun by Rev. Jesse Jackson.
16mm black and white silent film, undated, showing unidentified male singing group at WHK radio station, followed by footage of people picnicking at a park.
Black and white group photograph of African American Civil War veterans posing in front of Lawnfield. Group is not identified. "Copyright and published by J. F. Ryder, Cleveland, Ohio.", Without frame border, approximately 9.5 x 14 in., Featured in the "Cleveland Starts Here" Exhibit
Revereand Charles Lucas, Jr., was born in Wheeling, West Virginia. He is the pastor of St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church. During the 1970s, Rev. Lucas was president of the Cleveland Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
George L. Forbes was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He has owned a law firm in Cleveland, Ohio, since 1971. He was a city councilman during 1963-1989 and served as the first black council president during his last eighteen years in office. Mr. Forbes was elected president of the Cleveland NAACP in 1992 and was appointed to the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation in 1995.
Angela Stokes is the daughter of Louis Stokes and a graduate of the University of Maryland and Howard University Law School. She was Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio, and a Cleveland Municipal Court Judge for twenty years.