Carl B. Stokes and the Rise of Black Political Power [Hardcover]

Leonard N. Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 21, 2002

As the first elected black mayor of a major U.S. city, Cleveland's Carl B. Stokes embodied the transformation of the civil rights movement from a vehicle of protest to one of black political power. In this wide-ranging political biography, Leonard N. Moore examines the convictions and alliances that brought Stokes to power. Impelled by the problems plaguing Cleveland's ghettos in the decades following World War II, Stokes and other Clevelanders questioned how the sit-ins and marches of the civil rights movement could correct the exclusionary zoning practices, police brutality, substandard housing, and de facto school segregation that African Americans in the country's northern urban centers viewed as evidence of their oppression.As civil unrest in the country's ghettos turned to violence in the 1960s, Cleveland was one of the first cities to heed the call of Malcolm X's infamous 'The Ballot or the Bullet' speech. Understanding the importance of controlling the city's political system, Cleveland's blacks utilized their substantial voting base to put Stokes in office in 1967. Stokes was committed to showing the country that an African American could be an effective political leader. He employed an ambitious and radically progressive agenda to clean up Cleveland's ghettos, reform law enforcement, move public housing to middle-class neighborhoods, and jump-start black economic power.Hindered by resistance from the black middle class and the Cleveland City Council, spurned by the media and fellow politicians who deemed him a black nationalist, and unable to prove that black leadership could thwart black unrest, Stokes finished his four years in office with many of his legislative goals unfulfilled. Focusing on Stokes and Cleveland, but attending to themes that affected many urban centers after the second great migration of African Americans to the North, Moore balances Stokes's failures and successes to provide a thorough and engaging portrait of his life and his pioneering contributions to a distinct African American political culture that continues to shape American life.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

In 1967, Carl Burton Stokes (1927-96) became the first African American elected a big-city mayor. His two four-year terms as Cleveland's leader (beginning in 1967 and 1971) marked not merely the city's turnaround from near death but a shift in the Civil Rights Movement, black life, and big-city politics, argues Moore (history, Louisiana State Univ.). Deftly mixing biography with local urban history, Moore details Stokes's struggle as a civil rights veteran to transform Northern black protest into urban black political power that made a difference in the lives of the frustrated black middle class and the disenfranchised lower classes. Confronting de facto segregation, brutally biased law enforcement, inadequate housing, lack of jobs, and unresponsive social welfare, Stokes defined an agenda for black political mobilization in America's central cities, Moore shows. A powerful portrait of the history and politics of rust belt cities, Moore's work updates Stokes's autobiography, Promises of Power, and serves as a good contrast to recent analyses of race and U.S. cities, such as Heather Ann Thompson's Whose Detroit? Politics, Labor, and Race in a Modern American City. Highly recommended for civil rights, local, and urban history collections. Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"The first book-length scholarly analysis of Stokes...Moore examines in lively detail key moments of confrontation over urban renewal, public housing, the police, and civil unrest ...Moore has successfully re-created the key events that influenced Stokes's tenure and symbolized for the nation a new form of "black power." --Choice "Deftly mixing biography with local urban history, Moore details Stokes's struggle as a civil rights veteran to transform Northern black protest into urban black political power that made a difference in the lives of the frustrated black middle class and the disenfranchised lower classes... A powerful portrait of the history and politics of rust belt cities... Highly recommended." -- Library Journal "Leonard Moore does a wonderful job of outlining the expectations and disappointments associated with African American leadership. ... Moore's book is a must read for all those interested in understanding the life and legacy of America's first modern African American mayor." --Ohio History "In the last decade, American historians have started wrestling in earnest with the difficult topic of black power. Leonard N. Moore makes an important contribution in this much-needed examination of the political career of Carl B. Stokes, the first black mayor of a major American city, and what it can tell us about the rise of black political power in the late 1960s and 1970s." --American Historical Review

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (May 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252027604
• ISBN-13: 978-0252027604
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,842,443 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stokes as a model, August 6, 2007

By 

Cecelia E Connally (Cleveland, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Carl B. Stokes and the Rise of Black Political Power (Paperback)

Leonard Moore tells the story of the life of Carl B. Stokes in his book CARL B. STOKES AND THE RISE OF POLITICAL POWER. However, the book is much more than the political life of Stokes. There is in a sense a cursory perspective of his life. You don't get a clear view of his personality or his life style. The book is more about urban politics. Moore's essential theme is that Stokes represents the transition of the politics of protest to the politics of political power for blacks. He demonstrates how Stokes, like virtually all blacks who become mayors of large urban areas inherit dying cities created by white flight, deindustrialization and large populations of urban poor. These are tough battles no matter what your race. But in Stoke's election, Moore demonstrates how black voters came together to use their combined power to attempt to change their status.

By showing the intricacies of Cleveland politics, Moore shows how Stokes was never able to take control of City Council and the police departments. Those two obstacles along with several major scandals made life of Carl Stokes as Mayor difficult.

While the majority of the book deals with local politics and are particularly interesting to Cleveland natives, like myself, the conclusion is extremely powerful. In it Moore shows how Stokes essentially set the standard for future black mayors and how many of them had very similar problems. Although Stokes created the 21st District Caucus in an attempt to have a political powerbase outside the Democratic party, the Causus evenually lost its clout when Stokes was no longer in the picture. Moore also shows how neither Stokes or other Black mayors are able to pass on their political power to a chose successor.

An underlying thesis of the book is the maturation of the black voter. As Stokes saw in his many battles, a candidate cannot just rely on his race to draw votes. The black community and the black voter is no longer a single voting block. Just as white voters have varying interest, so do black voters.

There is one additional thing that is important about the life of Carl and also his brother former Congressman Louis Stokes. They grew up in poverty but also learned that they had to work. Both Stokes often tell the story of how they came to live in public housing and how it was the first time that each of them was able to sleep in their own bed. Prior to that the two boys and their mother all slept together. As a result, their mother was able to make a better life for them. It shows how they, like millions of other veterans, used the GI Bill to go to college and law school. In many respects, the Stokes brothers represent a part of the American dream. They used federal programs to better themselves. Their father died when they were young but they did not use the fact that they grew up without a father hold them back. They used what was available to them and make a better life for themselves and a better life for millions of American.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Individual chapters address a range of issues, September 14, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carl B. Stokes and the Rise of Black Political Power (Hardcover)

Carl B. Stokes And The Rise Of Black Political Power by Leonard N. Moore (Assistant Professor of History and Director of the African and African American Studies Program, Louisiana State University) is a meticulous portrayal of Mayor Carl Stokes of Cleveland and the impact his tenure has had on local and national African-American politics. Individual chapters address a range of issues such as "the making of a mayor"; black capitalism; internal political power struggles; and much, much more. A well-researched and scholarly examination of executive government in microcosm in general, and its reflections in the broader scope of African-American politics in particular, Carl B. Stokes And The Rise Of Black Political Power is a welcome and highly recommended addition to academic Black Studies and Political Science reference collections and reading lists.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Black capitalism; internal political power struggles, & more, September 5, 2002

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Carl B. Stokes and the Rise of Black Political Power (Hardcover)

Carl B. Stokes And The Rise Of Black Political Power by Leonard N. Moore (Assistant Professor of History and Director of the African and African American Studies Program, Louisiana State University) is a meticulous portrayal of Mayor Carl Stokes of Cleveland and the impact his tenure has had on local and national African-American politics. Individual chapters address a range of issues such as "the making of a mayor"; black capitalism; internal political power struggles; and much, much more. A well-researched and scholarly examination of executive government in microcosm in general, and its reflections in the broader scope of African-American politics in particular, Carl B. Stokes And The Rise Of Black Political Power is a welcome and highly recommended addition to academic Black Studies and Political Science reference collections and reading lists.