Catherine Stokes

Stokes was born in Doloroso, Mississippi as the youngest daughter of six in a family of sharecroppers. Her maternal grandfather was descended from a plantation owner and a former slave. After a challenging childhood, which included her father being shot and wounded in a fight, Stokes moved to Chicago when she was five to live with a great aunt.{{cite web |accessdate=2019-07-28 |url=https://www.mormonwomen.com/interview/cherish-one-another/ |title=Cherish One Another: Cathy Stokes |work=Mormon Women Project |author=Peterson, Kathryn |date=2013-07-31}} She lived in Chicago much of her life and became the first member of her family to graduate from college. She attended Hyde Park High School, graduating in 1954,{{cite news |title=South Side High Schools Choose Star Seniors |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-south-side-high-schools/171738598/ |access-date=5 May 2025 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=January 17, 1954 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=3-1}}{{cite news |title=College Seen As Success Key By 8 Graduates |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-college-seen-as-success/171738723/ |access-date=5 May 2025 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=January 17, 1954 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=3-4}} and won a scholarship to the Michael Reese Hospital School of Nursing.{{cite news |title=Hyde Park Star Student Awarded Nursing Grant |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-hyde-park-star-student-a/171738821/ |access-date=5 May 2025 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=March 14, 1954 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=4}} She obtained a bachelor's degree in nursing from DePaul University.{{cite web |accessdate=2019-07-28 |url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/765577268/Fierce-and-faithful-the-righteous-life-of-Cathy-Stokes.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120524043520/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765577268/Fierce-and-faithful-the-righteous-life-of-Cathy-Stokes.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 24, 2012 |title=Fierce and faithful: the righteous life of Cathy Stokes |work=Deseret News |author=Marostica, Laura |date=2012-05-19}}{{cite news |title=INA To Hold Program Meet |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-ina-to-hold-program-meet/171738868/ |access-date=5 May 2025 |work=The Times |date=May 29, 1975 |location=Streator, Illinois |page=2}} She worked as a public health nurse in Chicago, as a health planning administrator with the Illinois Comprehensive State Health Planning Agency, and as assistant deputy director for the Bureau of Hospitals and Ambulatory Services at the Illinois Department of Public Health. She retired in 2006.

Stokes was formerly a member of the Baptist, Catholic and Unity churches.{{cite news |last1=Hirsley |first1=Michael |title=Blacks flocking to Mormon life |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-blacks-flocking-to-mormo/171736854/ |access-date=5 May 2025 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=June 10, 1988 |location=Chicago, Illinois |page=7 |quote=Hirsley}} She converted to the LDS Church in 1979, attracted to what she saw as a "do-it-yourself" church whose members were committed to living their faith.{{cite news |last1=Ramirez |first1=Margaret |title=Mormons: Black members look beyond racism |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-fresno-bee-mormons-black-members-lo/171737000/ |access-date=5 May 2025 |work=The Fresno Bee |date=Aug 6, 2005 |location=Fresno, California |pages=F1-2}} While in Hawaii for a business conference Stokes visited the Laie Hawaii Temple and filled out a visitor card.{{cite web |accessdate=2019-07-28 |url=https://segullah.org/daily-special/segullah-interview-cathy-stokes/ |title=Segullah Interview with Cathy Stokes |work=Segullah |author=Hoffman-Kimball, Linda |date=2017-11-14}} LDS Church missionaries visited her in Chicago and she began attended the local congregation. Stokes was baptized on April 28, 1979 at the church's Hyde Park, Chicago meetinghouse. She later taught classes for those thinking about converting to the LDS Church and served as president of the Relief Society for women.{{cite book |last1=Embry |first1=Jessie L. |title=Black Saints in a White Church: Contemporary African American Mormons |date=1994 |publisher=Signature Books |isbn=9781560850441 |pages=117, 126 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=46HtAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Catherine%20M%20Stokes%22 |access-date=5 May 2025}} In 1988, she was one of eight African-American Mormons speaking in panel discussions on the 10 year anniversary of the 1978 Revelation on Priesthood.{{cite news |title=Black Mormons Say Church Has Progressed Racially |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-salt-lake-tribune-black-mormons-say/171739065/ |access-date=5 May 2025 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=June 10, 1988 |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |page=19}} In 1989, at the request of Neal A. Maxwell, Stokes traveled to Ghana with another African-American LDS member. There, they met with government officials and successfully petitioned for the prohibition on LDS Church activities to be lifted.{{cite book |last1=Stevenson |first1=Russell |title=For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830-2013 |date=2014 |publisher=Greg Kofford Books |isbn=9781589585300 |pages=193–195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=535lEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Catherine+M+Stokes%22&pg=PA193 |access-date=5 May 2025}}{{cite book |last1=Abu Kissi |first1=Emmanuel |title=Walking in the Sand: A History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ghana |date=2004 |publisher=Brigham Young University Press |isbn=9780842525442 |page=231 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHDZAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Catherine%20M%20Stokes%22 |access-date=5 May 2025}} Stokes featured in a 1996 film of interviews of "well-known LDS personalities" from different areas of public life.{{cite news |title=LDS plans Sunday telecast |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/ravalli-republic-lds-plans-sunday-teleca/171737165/ |access-date=5 May 2025 |work=Ravalli Republic |date=February 22, 1996 |location=Hamilton, Montana |page=5}}{{cite news |title=Church Events |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sheboygan-press-church-events/171737188/ |access-date=5 May 2025 |work=The Sheboygan Press |date=April 12, 1996 |location=Sheboygan, Wisconsin |page=17}} In 2010, she was named as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for the Deseret News.{{cite news|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700059575/Deseret-News-introduces-Editorial-Advisory-Board.html?pg=3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317112954/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700059575/Deseret-News-introduces-Editorial-Advisory-Board.html?pg=3 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 17, 2012 |title=Deseret News introduces Editorial Advisory Board |work=Deseret News|date=August 23, 2010 |accessdate=September 27, 2011}} She is considered a pioneer for African-Americans and continues to be an advocate for minorities in the LDS Church,{{cite news|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/05/31/mormon-land-cathy-stokes-discusses-her-life-as-a-black-latter-day-saint-and-the-state-of-race-relations-inside-and-outside-the-church/ |title='Mormon Land': Cathy Stokes discusses her life as a black Latter-day Saint and the state of race relations inside and outside the church |work=Salt Lake Tribune |date=May 31, 2018 |accessdate=July 28, 2019}}{{Unreliable source?|date=April 2025|reason=At the time this human interest story was published, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News (which Stokes sat on the editorial board of) were business partners.}} and to speak against racism, racist teachings in the LDS Church and racist violence in society.{{cite book |last1=Kline |first1=Caroline |title=Mormon Women at the Crossroads: Global Narratives and the Power of Connectedness |date=2022 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=9780252053351 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ckBzEAAAQBAJ |access-date=5 May 2025}}{{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Matthew L. |title=Second-Class Saints: Black Mormons and the Struggle for Racial Equality |date=2024 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780197695715 |pages=260, 308, 313 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=APYFEQAAQBAJ |access-date=5 May 2025}}

Stokes has participated in volunteer, civic, and activist work, including serving as vice chairman of the board of trustees of the Chicago Inner City Youth Charitable Foundation for 16 years, as a member of the Utah AIDS Foundation board of trustees, and on the board of the Salt Lake City Public Library. She has also been chairperson of the Utah chapter of the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society.{{cite news |title=Of Note: Carbondale Interfaith Dialogue |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/southern-illinoisan-of-note-carbondale/171737044/ |access-date=5 May 2025 |work=Southern Illinoisan |date=September 1, 2012 |location=Carbondale, Illinois |page=7}}

Stokes has one daughter and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.Stack, Peggy Fletcher. [https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=58361569&itype=CMSID "For many black Mormons, racism is a bigger issue than sexism"], Salt Lake Tribune, Utah, 4 September 2014. Retrieved on 31 December 2019.

{{reflist}}

{{Black people and the Latter Day Saint movement}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, Catherine}}

Category:Latter Day Saints from Illinois

Category:Converts to Mormonism

Category:Living people

Category:DePaul University alumni

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Latter Day Saints from Utah

Category:African-American Latter Day Saints