"Carl Burton Stokes was the first African American mayor of a major American city, having been elected mayor of Cleveland, the nation’s 8^th largest city, in 1967. He is among the few American politicians whose career spanned all three branches of government — legislative, executive, and judicial. He served as mayor, Ohio legislator, and municipal court judge. Carl Stokes’ narrow victory in November 1967 over his Republican opponent Seth Taft, grandson of a president, came with 20 percent of the white vote and almost total support from a black community," - Cleveland Civil Rights Trail

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