The Rev. Dr. Joan Campbell was born in Youngstown and is an ordained pastor, who has committed her life to service and activism working with important leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. She worked to organize voters for Carl Stokes' mayoral campaign.She is also the mother of Jane Campbell, the first female mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.
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).
The Rev. Emmitt Theophilus Caviness is a native of Marshall, Texas. He is the pastor of Greater Abyssinia Baptist Church and the president of the Cleveland chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Rev. Caviness served as a commissioner in the Carl Stokes mayoral administration.
Michael White is from the Glenville neighborhood, of Cleveland, Ohio. While studying at The Ohio State University, he was studen union president. White was campaign manager for Louis Stokes' Congressional Campaign, and also served on the Cleveland City Council between 1978 and 1984. White was mayor of Cleveland from 1990 to 2002.
Albert G. Ratner is a native Clevelander. He is an avid philanthropist and the co-chairman of Forest City Realty Trust, a nationwide real estate development firm. For twenty years he was the CEO of his family owned business, Forest City Enterprises, Inc. Mr. Ratner discusses his upbringing, particularly growing up in various East Side suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1930s and '40s and his experiences with racial integration and conflict that occurred following WWII. Mr. Ratner also talks about Lou Stokes and his legacy.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.