In 1950, Republican attorney Charles Stokes (1903-1996) is elected to the 37th legislative seat of the Washington State Legislature, becoming Seattle's first African American representative in Olympia. There were only two Black state legislators before him, Owen Bush in 1889, and John H. Ryan, who served two terms in the House (1931-1932, 1941-1942) and one in the Senate (1933-1936).
Stokes arrived in Seattle in 1944. He became president of the NAACP and a chief lobbyist for the Fair Employment Practice Act of 1949. He ran for state legislator and won elections in 1950 and in 1952. In 1954, he ran for state senate against Pat Sutherland and lost, but in 1956 he regained his seat in the house. "During his three-year term in the state legislature, he was named the outstanding freshman GOP House member from King County. He received a standing ovation from the legislature when he spoke on the willingness of black people to fight in the Korean War despite Paul Robeson’s stance against the war. The speech was aired on the 'Voice of America.' (Paul Robeson was an internationally renowned African American concert singer and actor associated with communist causes.)" (Henry).
In 1968 Stokes was appointed judge to King County District Court, becoming the first Black person to serve in this position.
