View source for Louise Stokes

{{For|the American educator|Louise Stokes Hunter}}
{{short description|American track and field athlete}}
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| name             = Louise Stokes
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| full_name        = Louise Mae Stokes Fraser
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'''Louise Mae Stokes Fraser''' (October 27, 1913 – March 25, 1978) was an American [[track and field]] athlete.

== Biography ==
The oldest of six children,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|url=http://vc.bridgew.edu/hoba/30/|title=Louise Stokes Fraser|journal=Massachusetts Hall of Black Achievement|access-date=2016-12-11|date=January 1999}}</ref> Louise Mae Stokes was born in [[Malden, Massachusetts]] on October 27, 1913,<ref name=":1">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c9lU6YhssyMC&pg=PA38 |title=Yes, She Can!: Women's Sports Pioneers |author=Stout, Glenn |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] |isbn=9780547574097|date=2011-04-04 }}</ref> to William, a gardener, and Mary Wesley Stokes, a domestic. She started running while a student at Beebe Junior High,<ref name=":0" /> where she was a center for the basketball team.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/sports-history-forgot-about-tidye-pickett-and-louise-stokes-two-black-olympians-who-never-got-their-shot-glory-180960138/|title=Sports History Forgot About Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes, Two Black Olympians Who Never Got Their Shot|newspaper=Smithsonian|access-date=2016-12-11}}</ref> In 1930, one of her basketball teammates, Kathryn Robley, impressed by her speed, suggested Stokes to join her in the Onteora Track Club,<ref name=":1" /> whose sponsor, Malden park commissioner William H. Quaine, knew of Stokes' reputation.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Gissendanner|first=Cindy Himes|date=1996-06-01|title=African American Women Olympians: The Impact of Race, Gender, and Class Ideologies, 1932–1968|journal=Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport|volume=67|issue=2|pages=172–182|doi=10.1080/02701367.1996.10607941|issn=0270-1367|pmid=8835996}}</ref> Soon, Stokes started winning the sprints and jumping events.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=http://patch.com/massachusetts/malden/black-history-month-louise-stokes-fraser|title=BLACK HISTORY MONTH: Louise Stokes Fraser|date=2012-02-14|newspaper=Malden, MA Patch|access-date=2016-12-11|language=en-US}}</ref>

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 metres|100-meter dash]].<ref name=":0" /> In December of that year, she tied the world record for women's standing broad jump at 8 feet 5 3/4 inches.<ref>{{Cite book|title=African American lives|last1=Gates|first1=Henry Louis Jr.|last2=Higginbotham|first2=Evelyn Brooks|date=2004-01-01|publisher=Oxford University Press|oclc=53361279}}</ref> At the [[1932 United States Olympic Trials (track and field)|1932 United States Olympic Trials]], she competed in the 100 meters where she placed fourth,<ref name="hymans">{{cite web |url=https://www.usatf.org/statistics/champions/OlympicTrials/HistoryOfTheOlympicTrials.pdf |title=The History of the United States Olympic Trials – Track & Field |last=Hymans|first= Richard |publisher=[[USA Track & Field]] |year=2008 |accessdate=October 20, 2015| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20120620000346/http://usatf.org/statistics/champions/OlympicTrials/HistoryOfTheOlympicTrials.pdf | archivedate=June 20, 2012| url-status=live}}</ref> earning her a spot in the [[4 × 100 metres relay|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.<ref name=":2" /> In Los Angeles, Stokes was given a compact by film star [[Janet Gaynor]].<ref name=":1" />

Stokes continued running, and at the [[1936 United States Olympic Trials (track and field)|1936 United States Olympic Trials]], she again competed in the 100 meters, winning both her heat and her semi-final.<ref name="hymans" /> She was leading the final until a costly error pushed her back to fifth.<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref name=":2" /> Although she did not compete at the Olympics, she was still given a hero's welcome in Malden.<ref name=":0" /> 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]]''.<ref name="Henderson 2016">{{cite web | last=Henderson | first=Odie | title=Olympic Pride, American Prejudice movie review (2016) | website=RogerEbert.com | date=2016-08-05 | url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/olympic-pride-american-prejudice-2016 | access-date=2021-04-11}}</ref>

Stokes was considering to compete at the 1940 Olympics before its cancellation due to [[World War II]].<ref name=":2" /> In 1941, she founded the Colored Women's Bowling League, and for the next three decades won many awards.<ref name=":2" /> In 1944, she married Caribbean cricketer Wilfred Fraser and had a son, Wilfred Jr., as well as a stepdaughter, Shirley.<ref name=":0" /> From 1957 to 1975, she worked as a clerk for the Massachusetts Department of Corporations and Taxation.<ref name=":2" /> She died on March 25, 1978.<ref name=":0" />

Malden, Massachusetts have honored her with a fieldhouse with her name in Roosevelt Park, and a statue in the Malden High Courtyard.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners in women's 60 m}}
{{Footer US NC 50m Women}}
{{Footer USA Track & Field 1932 Summer Olympics}}
{{Footer USA Track & Field 1936 Summer Olympics}}
{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, Louise}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:Track and field athletes from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:American female sprinters]]
[[Category:African-American track and field athletes]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic track and field athletes for the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportswomen]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American sportswomen]]