Louise Stokes

Louise Stokes grew up in Malden, Massachusetts where she starred in high school in track as a sprinter and on the basketball team. In 1932 she placed fourth at the US Olympic Trials in the 100 metres and was selected for the Olympic team in the 4x100 relay pool. However, Stokes was not chosen to run in that event, and racism has always been considered a factor as Stokes and Tidye Pickett were the first Black women to make the US Olympic team, although neither competed in 1932.

In 1936 Stokes again attended the Olympic Trials and made the final of the 100 metres. She made the relay pool, although her final finish is not recorded, but again she did not compete at the Berlin Olympics in any event.

Stokes hoped to try again for the 1940 Olympics but that was not to be because of World War II. In 1941 she founded the Colored Women’s Bowling League and won many titles over the next 30 years. Stokes married Caribbean cricketer Wilfred Fraser in 1944 and had a son and raised a stepdaughter. From 1957-75, Louise Stokes worked as a clerk for the Massachusetts Department of Corporations and Taxation. A fieldhouse in Roosevelt Park in Malden, Massachusetts was named in her honor.