Louise Stokes
American track and field athlete
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Louise Mae Stokes Fraser (October 27, 1913 – March 25, 1978) was an American track and field athlete. In 1933, she was the first African-American woman to win an event in the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, winning the 50-meter dash, and becoming a national champion.[1]
Stokes in 1931 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Louise Mae Stokes Fraser |
| Born | |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Track and field |
Biography
The oldest of six children,[2] Louise Mae Stokes was born in Malden, Massachusetts on October 27, 1913,[3] to William, a gardener, and Mary Wesley Stokes, a domestic. She started running while a student at Beebe Junior High,[2] where she was a center for the basketball team.[4] In 1930, one of her basketball teammates, Kathryn Robley, impressed by her speed, suggested Stokes to join her in the Onteora Track Club,[3] whose sponsor, Malden park commissioner William H. Quaine, knew of Stokes' reputation.[5] Soon, Stokes started winning the sprints and jumping events.[6]
While a junior in Malden High School in 1931, Stokes won the James Michael Curley Cup for the best women's performance at the Mayor's Day track meet, including a New England record 12.6 seconds in the 100-meter dash.[2] In December of that year, she tied the world record for women's standing broad jump at 8 feet 5 3/4 inches.[7] At the 1932 United States Olympic Trials, she competed in the 100 meters where she placed fourth,[8] earning her a spot in the 4 × 100 meter relay pool and making her and Tidye Pickett the first African-American Women to be selected for the Olympics, although coach George Vreeland left them out at the final relay lineup.[6] In Los Angeles, Stokes was given a compact by film star Janet Gaynor.[3]
Stokes continued running, and at the 1936 United States Olympic Trials, she again competed in the 100 meters, winning both her heat and her semi-final.[8] She was leading the final until a costly error pushed her back to fifth.[3] Still, it was good enough for her to become a part of the 4 x 100 meter relay pool. Stokes' hometown of Malden raised $680 in order that she may compete in Berlin.[6] Although she did not compete at the Olympics, she was still given a hero's welcome in Malden.[2] In 2016, the 1936 Olympic journey of the eighteen Black American athletes, including interviews with Stokes' family, was documented in the film Olympic Pride, American Prejudice.[9]
Stokes was considering to compete at the 1940 Olympics before its cancellation due to World War II.[6] In 1941, she founded the Colored Women's Bowling League, and for the next three decades won many awards.[6] In 1944, she married Caribbean cricketer Wilfred Fraser and had a son, Wilfred Jr., as well as a stepdaughter, Shirley.[2] From 1957 to 1975, she worked as a clerk for the Massachusetts Department of Corporations and Taxation.[6] She died on March 25, 1978.[2]
Malden, Massachusetts have honored her with a fieldhouse with her name in Roosevelt Park, and a statue in the Malden High Courtyard.