![]() Stokes in 1931 | |
Personal information | |
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Full name | Louise Mae Stokes Fraser |
Born | Malden, Massachusetts |
Sport | |
Sport | Track and field |
Louise Mae Stokes Fraser (October 27, 1913 – March 25, 1978) was an American track and field athlete.
The oldest of six children,[1] Louise Mae Stokes was born in Malden, Massachusetts on October 27, 1913,[2] to William, a gardener, and Mary Wesley Stokes, a domestic. She started running while a student at Beebe Junior High,[1] where she was a center for the basketball team.[3] In 1930, one of her basketball teammates, Kathryn Robley, impressed by her speed, suggested Stokes to join her in the Onteora Track Club,[2] whose sponsor, Malden park commissioner William H. Quaine, knew of Stokes' reputation.[4] Soon, Stokes started winning the sprints and jumping events.[5]
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.[1] In December of that year, she tied the world record for women's standing broad jump at 8 feet 5 3/4 inches.[6] At the 1932 United States Olympic Trials, competed in the 100 meters, where she placed fourth,[7] earning her a spot in the 4 × 100 meter relay pool, 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.[5] In Los Angeles, Stokes was given a compact by film star Janet Gaynor.[2]
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.[7] She was leading the final until a costly error pushed her back to fifth.[2] 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.[5] Although she did not compete at the Olympics, she was still given a hero's welcome in Malden.[1] 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.[8]
Stokes was considering to compete at the 1940 Olympics before its cancellation due to World War II.[5] In 1941, she founded the Colored Women's Bowling League, and for the next three decades won many awards.[5] In 1944, she married Caribbean cricketer Wilfred Fraser and had a son, Wilfred, Jr., as well as a stepdaughter, Shirley.[1] From 1957 to 1975, she worked as a clerk for the Massachusetts Department of Corporations and Taxation.[5] She died on March 25, 1978.[1]
Malden, Massachusetts have honored her with a fieldhouse with her name in Roosevelt Park, and a statue in the Malden High Courtyard.