Students Tour Stokes Exhibit
For many young people, "Stokes" is just a name on a building or on a street sign. But as the first black mayor of a major American city, and as the first black Congressman from Ohio, Carl and Louis Stokes were true pioneers. When 43 students and 25 chaperones from the Saturday Tutoring Program visited the Western Reserve Historical Society on November 17, 2007, they learned about the Stokes.
In the weeks leading up to this field trip, the students viewed video clips about the Stokes brothers. Many of the students found they had some things in common with the Stokes, who were raised by their mother in Cleveland's Outhwaite Homes and graduated from Central High School. In one of the videos, Louis Stokes recalled his mother's advice. She always told her sons to get an education, so they could "work with their heads, not with their hands" as she needed to do throughout her life. She also told them to "be somebody." It was very moving to hear the students and tutors share some of the advice they have received. The students also talked about their career plans, which ranged from police officer to fashion designer to engineer.
The group saw photographs and memorabilia from each phase of the Stokes' lives. It is hard for young people to understand the impact that the Stokes had on our city, our state, and beyond. But the group had some amazing learning experiences as they toured the exhibit.
Students listened intently as chaperones who served in World War II and Vietnam described the Stokes' dog tags and military records. Our elementary students gave voice to a letter that second graders sent to Carl when he won the mayoral election. Everyone became very somber when a teenage girl read a letter the Stokes received from a Cleveland middle school student after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Students asked to have their pictures taken in Louis' Congressional "office".
The exhibit included an interactive news desk where students could see themselves on camera. After leaving office, Carl Stokes was a television news anchor in New York City. Students had fun interviewing each other, asking questions that were provided. Then one of the fifth graders decided to pose as the next mayor of Cleveland. He answered a long series of tough questions during a terrific impromptu press conference that unfolded. Someday, all of the students will "be somebody." Hopefully, they will have looked to well-known role models like Louis and Carl Stokes, and to people they know well—like the tutors and other caring adults in their lives.
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