He did two tours of duty as chairman of the ethics committee and stepped in upon request during the investigation of a case involving the private life of U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who retired in 2013.
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Perhaps the largest part of Stokes’ legacy is his role in helping to found the Congressional Black Caucus in 1971, with its mission of serving “as the voice for people of color and vulnerable communities in Congress”.
The Veterans Administration hospital in Cleveland bears Louis Stokes’ name, as do buildings at Case Western Reserve, Wilberforce and Central State universities and the National Institute of Health.
Stokes represented a swath of Cleveland, a predominantly black district that he helped create by mounting a legal challenge to the race-based gerrymandering that had previously made it difficult, if not impossible, for a black candidate to win election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Stokes lost some of his zest for politics after his brother died of cancer in 1996. “He was effective because he knew how to bring people together to solve problems and, as a result, he had a meaningful impact on countless lives in his beloved hometown of Cleveland and around the country”, Portman said in a statement. Their mother, Louise, had an eighth-grade education and emphasized schooling, telling her sons to “get something in your head so you don’t have to work with your hands”. “The ordinary black man doesn’t have the same chance as the ordinary white man does”.
Years later, when an anti-busing amendment was debated on the House floor, Stokes described the humiliation of segregation.
Ohio’s senior senator, Sherrod Brown, praised Stokes and called him both “a friend and a mentor”.
Struggles with racism lasted a lifetime.
Funeral services for Congressman Stokes are also open to the public.
The former congressman earned 27 honorary doctorate degrees during his career and became the first African American to receive the Congressional Distinguished Service Award in 2003. He was powerful and he never had to toot his own horn.
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At his brother’s behest, Stokes ran for that seat in 1968 and defeated Lucas, his ally in the redistricting fight, with 75 percent of the vote.
