Richard Peery is a retired reporter from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He is also a former reporter for the Call and Post newspaper. Raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he has lived in Cleveland, Ohio, for 40 years, and served as president of the Writer's Guild union at the Plain Dealer, and has continued his activism in the community.
Walter Beach III was born in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1933. Before attending college, Beach served in the U.S. Air force, spending three years in Germany as a cryptographer. He graduated from Central Michigan University and played defensive back in both the Canadian and National Football Leagues, including with the the Cleveland Browns during the team's 1964 Championship season. He served as the director for Countil for Youth Opportunities during Carl Stokes' mayoral administration. He is a lawyer and author.
The Honorable Jane L. Campbell is a native Clevelander, who has the distinction of being Cleveland's first female mayor, serving from 2002 to 2006. In 1975, Campbell founded WomenSpace, a coalition of women's organizations that advocated for the creation of Ohio's first shelter for battered women and promoted women for community and government leadership. She served in Ohio's House of Representatives from 1986 to 1996. In 1996 she was elected Cuyahoga County commissioner. She is currently Director of the Washington office of the National Development Council and president of Women Impacting Public Policy.
The Honorable Frank Jackson was first elected Mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, in 2005. He had served for 15 years on the City Council prior to his election as mayor. As Mayor, Jackson kept the city solvent during a deep recession shortly after he took office. He has welcomed police reform, and has led a plan to transform Cleveland's public
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.
Steven Bullock was born in Halifax County, North Carolina, the grandson of a former slave. He was the CEO of the Greater Cleveland Chapter of the American Red Cross from 1982 and was named acting president of the national agency for 1999. He also served on a number of boards of directors, including the Greater Cleveland Roundtable, the Cleveland Campaign, and Leadership Cleveland. In 2001, Bullock founded the Bullock Group, a management consulting company for non-profit and public institutions.
Virgil Dominic was born in Oklahoma in 1934. He first came to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1965 when he served as news anchor at WKRYC Channel 3. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to work at that city's ABC affiliate in 1972. In 1976 he returned to Cleveland,to become news director at WJW Channel 8, and eventually became the station's general manager, retiring from the station in 1995. HE is a member of five hall of fames: Cleveland Broadcasters, Cleveland Press Club, Ohio Broadcasters, Associated Press, and UPI.
Betty Pinkney and her husband, Arnold, were long time advocates for Carl and Louis Stokes. Arnold helped with Louis Stoke's election to Congress and was a major strategist for the Democratic party. Arnold Pinkney, an insurance executive, also ran Jesse Jackson's national campaign for president in 1984.
Sister Alicia Alvarado and Jose Feliciano are both active in the Hispanic community. Sister Alvarado was born in Puerto Rico, immigrating to the United States when she was 6 years old. She received degrees from Cleveland State University, Case Western Reserve University, and Kent State. And she entered the the Sisters of St. Dominic of Akron in 1979. Sister Alvarado was only junior in High School when she worked in a storefront campaign office to help Carl Stokes run for mayor.
Mr. Feliciano made history by becoming Cleveland's first Hispanic chief prosecuting attorney. He was also born in Puerto Rico and moved to Cleveland in 1952, to grow up on the near West side of Cleveland, in what is now known as Ohio City. Mr. Feliciano has been involved with the Greater Cleveland Partnership and the Commission on Economic Inclusion.
Shelley Stokes-Hammond is the oldest daughter of Louis Stokes. She is a graduate of Ohio University and Goucher College. She is a historic preservationist, author, and public relations manager at Howard University.
In 1925, the Cleveland Water Department opened the Baldwin Water Treatment Plant in the Fairfax neighborhood on the border of Cleveland Heights. Supplying water to the Baldwin facility was the Kirtland Pump Station located on Lakefront Road at E. 49th Street. Just east of the Kirtland Station was Gordon Park Beach, which was a 122-acre recreational area along the lakefront on the eastern side of E. 72nd Street. Euclid Beach Park was located on the southern shore of Lake Erie at E. 156th St. and Nottingham Rd., about 8 mi. from Public Square. On the west side of Cleveland. Adjacent to the Division Avenue Treatment Plant (now known as the Garrett Morgan facility), Edgewater Park was purchased in 1894 by the city's Second Park Board from Jacob B. Perkins, Cleveland industrialist. The collection consists of 53 black and white photographs illustrating Baldwin Water Treatment facility, the construction of bulkheads along the shoreline at the Kirtland Pump Station, and Edgewater, Euclid Beach, and Gordon Parks.
Carl Stokes, and his brother Louis, were groundbreaking African-American politicians from Cleveland, Ohio. Carl Stokes became the first black mayor of a major U.S. city when elected in 1967. Louis Stokes was the first African-American congressman from Ohio when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1968, a position he held for 15 consecutive terms. During Carl Stokes two mayoral terms, city hall jobs were opened to blacks and women, and a number of urban renewal projects were initiated. Between 1983 and 1994 Carl Stokes served as municipal judge, and in 1994 was appointed by President Clinton as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Seychelles. Louis Stokes began his career as a civil rights attorney, and helped challenge the Ohio redistricting in 1965 that fragmented African-American voting strength. In 1967, Louis Stokes argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Terry v. Ohio case, also known as the "stop-and-frisk" case. In the 1970s, Louis Stokes served as chair on Assassinations and in the 1980s was a noted member of the House Select Committee to Investigate Covert Arms Transactions with Iran. The collection includes 34 interviews with family and friends, associates and staff, and was conducted to commemorate the 50th anniversaries of Carl Stokes election as mayor and Louis Stokes to Congress.