“Cleveland-Marshall was exactly the right place….For four years, from 1949 to 1953, I worked during the day and went to school from six to ten every night. As tired as I might have been, I came to most of my classes full of excitement and anticipation…..As my studies progressed at Cleveland-Marshall, I was aware that I was experiencing a kind of mental or intellectual metamorphosis. The fact is that there’s nothing quite like the law…. I understood that I wasn’t simply absorbing knowledge, learning cases and principles – my mind was being trained to a way of thinking. I was absorbing a certain kind of logical, philosophical approach to processing and presenting information. I was seeing how you apply law to facts, how you sort out the more persuasive from the less persuasive points in order to outthink your opponent and achieve your ends.” - Congressman Louis Stokes ’53, The Gentleman From Ohio
Yesterday would have been the 100th birthday of Congressman Louis Stokes '53 (1925-2015), so this morning’s message honors his legacy. We have many distinguished CSU Law alumni but none more distinguished than the late Congressman Stokes.
Congressman Stokes became the first Black congressman to be elected from the state of Ohio in 1968 and served in that capacity for 30 years. Congressman Stokes helped investigate the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and President John F. Kennedy, and he was a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus. One of his successors is another CSU Law graduate, the Hon. Marcia Fudge '83.
On a personal note, Congressman Stokes was a friend and mentor to me for more than 35 years. I have had the privilege of knowing members of his wonderful family, and his daughters Lori Stokes and Shelley Stokes-Hammond remain long-time friends.
You can make a contribution in Congressman Stokes’ honor here: Congressman Louis Stokes '53 Endowed Scholarship Fund
The Gentleman From Ohio
Soon after I became Interim Dean in 2016, we hosted a forum in honor of the book, The Gentleman From Ohio, the autobiography of Congressman Stokes. Professor Jonathan Witmer-Rich moderated the panel discussion about the 1968 Supreme Court case, Terry v. Ohio, argued before the U.S. Supreme Court by lawyer Louis Stokes, and the extraordinary life of Congressman Stokes. The panel included Lori Stokes, daughter of Lou and Jay Stokes and former award-winning New York City journalist, news anchor, and television host; Brett Hammond, grandson of Lou and Jay Stokes and Assistant United States Attorney; and David Chanoff, the collaborator of the Stokes autobiography.
As former Congressman John Lewis notes in the book foreword, “ With all his political achievements, Louis Stokes was not at heart a politician. He got great fulfillment from his life in Congress, but his first and last love was the law. As a twelve-year old newspaper delivery boy in Cleveland he read about the Scottsboro boys, lynchings, and other racial cruelty in the South and dreamed of becoming a lawyer who could defend his people from that kind of injustice.”
Congressman Stokes’ distinguished career not only in Congress but also in his own law firm which he founded with his brother, Cleveland Mayor Carl B. Stokes '56 and later with Squire Patton Boggs is further testament to his love of the law. Here are some excerpts from The Gentleman from Ohio: Book Excerpts by PD Columnist Brent Larkin '86
Terry v. Ohio
On October 31, 1963 while on a routine beat through downtown Cleveland, Detective Martin McFadden noticed three men pacing in front of a jewelry store on Euclid Avenue. McFadden identified himself as a police officer and asked them their names. When the men “mumbled something” in response, McFadden frisked them and found a pistol in John Terry’s overcoat pocket and a revolver in Richard Chilton’s coat pocket. McFadden arrested and charged Terry and Chilton with carrying concealed weapons. These are some of the underlying facts of the famous case, Terry v. Ohio. Known as the “stop and frisk” case, it is listed as one of the 25 top constitutional law cases in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. The attorney who argued the case before the U.S. Supreme Court on December 12, 1967 was Cleveland lawyer, Louis Stokes ’53.
Stokes Scholars Program
Named after Congressman Stokes, the Stokes Scholars Program at the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association (CMBA) provides resources and mentoring to college students from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Shaw High School who are interested in pursuing careers in the law. Carter Strang '84, during his tenure (2012-2013) as President of the CMBA, created the Stokes Scholars Program. Mary Groth '83 directed the program for many years. The first Stokes Scholar to graduate from any law school was CSU Law graduate Brandon Brown ’17.
Congressman Louis Stokes ‘53 was the epitome of our motto, Learn Law. Live Justice.
Have a great day. Have a great week.
The views and opinions expressed in my Monday Morning Message are solely my own and do not reflect the views and opinions of the law school or the university.
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My best,
Lee