Kappa Alpha Psi’s Carl Stokes Was the First Black Mayor of a Major American City

Did you know that the first African American elected mayor of a major American city was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.? His name was Carl Stokes, and in 1967 he made history in Cleveland.

Carl Burton Stokes was born on June 21, 1927, in Cleveland, Ohio. He served in the U.S. Army before pursuing his education, studying at West Virginia State College, a historically Black college, before earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in 1954. He went on to earn his law degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

Stokes was a 1950 initiate of the Alpha Omega Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.

Stokes entered politics and rose quickly. He was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, where he served from 1963 to 1968 as one of the first Black Democrats in the Ohio legislature. Then, in 1967, he made history. As the National Park Service notes, Stokes was elected mayor of Cleveland, becoming the first African American mayor of a major American city. He served two terms.

His career of firsts continued after city hall. Stokes became a news anchor at WNBC in New York City, one of the first Black anchors on a major-market television station. He later served as a municipal court judge in Cleveland and, in 1994, was appointed United States Ambassador to the Republic of Seychelles.

Carl Stokes died on April 3, 1996, in Cleveland, the city he had led into history. His brother, Louis Stokes, also a member of Kappa Alpha Psi, went on to become the first Black member of Congress from Ohio, making the Stokes brothers one of the most influential families in Black political history.

From West Virginia State College to the mayor’s office in Cleveland, Kappa Alpha Psi’s Carl Stokes opened a door in American politics that changed the country.

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