Louise Stokes
director
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.
Biography
The oldest of six children, Louise Mae Stokes was born in Malden, Massachusetts on October 27, 1913, to William, a gardener, and Mary Wesley Stokes, a domestic. She started running while a student at Beebe Junior High, where she was a center for the basketball team. In 1930, one of her basketball teammates, Kathryn Robley, impressed by her speed, suggested Stokes to join her in the Onteora Track Club, whose sponsor, Malden park commissioner William H. Quaine, knew of Stokes' reputation. Soon, Stokes started winning the sprints and jumping events.
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. In December of that year, she tied the world record for women's standing broad jump at 8 feet 5 3/4 inches. At the 1932 United States Olympic Trials, she competed in the 100 meters where she placed fourth, 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. In Los Angeles, Stokes was given a compact by film star Janet Gaynor.
The public source identifies “Louise Stokes” as director. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Louise, Stokes and director.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Louise Stokes”, the useful work is to connect “director” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q27995579. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1913, 1978, 1933 and 1930.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Louise Stokes”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Louise Stokes primary sources, Louise Stokes archive and Louise research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Louise Stokes”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Louise Stokes” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.