A00038 - Leonard Harmon, Navy Cross Recipient

Leonard Roy Harmon (January 21, 1917–November 13, 1942) was an African American sailor who died in action during World War II and was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his valor.

Harmon, born in Cuero, Texas, was 22 years of age when he enlisted in the United States Navy in June 1939. He trained as a Mess Attendant, one of the few jobs available to African American men in the Navy at that time. The basic job description consisted of serving food to officers and crew aboard ship. However, like all members of a ship’s crew they were also trained in damage control and had stations to report to during general quarters. 

During his service he became a Mess Attendant First Class and was serving aboard the USS San Francisco (CA-38) when on November 12, 1942 he was killed in action. During the course of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, he was assigned to assist pharmacist's mate Lyndford Bondsteel in caring for the wounded. While doing so he deliberately interposed himself between Bondsteel and enemy gunfire in order to protect his shipmate. This action resulted in his death.

Harmon was awarded the Navy Cross. Two ships were named in his honor. The HMS Aylmer had been provisionally named USS Harmon (DE-72) but was transferred to the Royal Navy prior to completion. The second ship, the USS Harmon (DE-678) served from 1943 to 1947 and remained in the Reserve Fleet until 1967; it was the first United States warship to be named after an African American. 

The citation issued for Leonard Roy Harmon's Navy Cross read:

The President of the United States of America takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Mess Attendant First Class Leonard Roy Harmon, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty in action against the enemy while serving on board the Heavy Cruiser U.S.S. SAN FRANCISCO (CA-38), during action against enemy Japanese naval forces near Savo Island in the Solomon Islands on the night of on 12–13 November 1942. With persistent disregard of his own personal safety, Mess Attendant First Class Harmon rendered invaluable assistance in caring for the wounded and assisting them to a dressing station. In addition to displaying unusual loyalty in behalf of the injured Executive Officer, he deliberately exposed himself to hostile gunfire in order to protect a shipmate and, as a result of this courageous deed, was killed in action. His heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, maintained above and beyond the call of duty, was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

A00037 - Bromley Armstrong, Jamaican Canadian Civil Rights Leader

Bromley Lloyd Armstrong (b. February 9, 1926, Kingston, Jamaica), a Jamaican Canadian civil rights leader who was active in the nascent civil rights era in Canada, beginning with his arrival in 1947. Armstrong was a committed union activist who worked to improve conditions for workers in industry. He was also active in promoting equal rights for African Canadians and was involved with the National Unity Association (NUA) in sit-ins in Dresden, Ontario restaurants that refused to serve people of African descent. Armstrong travelled to Dresden following the activities of Hugh Burnett and the NUA — the NUA had been urging the local town council (unsuccessfully) to create laws that would put an end to discrimination against people of African descent in the town. In response to delegations to the Ontario Legislature at Queen's Park in the provincial capital of Toronto, in the early 1950s, Ontario Premier Leslie Frost brought two laws into place, the Fair Employment Practices Act and the Fair Accommodation Practices Act. The first outlawed discrimination in the workplace, the second outlawed it in businesses that served the public. Enacted in April 1954, the Fair Accommodation Practices Act stated: "No one can deny to any person or class of persons the accommodation, services or facilities usually available to members of the public." The Act triggered the repeal of the largely ineffective Racial Discrimination Act of 1944, which outlawed "the publication or display, on lands, premises, by newspaper or radio, of any notice, sign, symbol, emblem or other representation indicating racial discrimination."

After local Dresden businesses refused to comply with the Fair Accommodation Practices Act, the same year it was enacted, Armstrong and other activists from the Toronto-based Joint Labour Committee for Human Rights conducted sit-ins in Dresden restaurants, testing the owners' non-compliance with the law, and then using that information to urge Premier Frost to eventually press charges against the restaurant owners. The owners were taken to court and the law held; the legal case was Canada's first successful test of laws making discrimination illegal. Armstrong played a figurative role in the sit-ins, on one occasion calmly demanding service of a bigoted restaurant owner, who was angrily wielding a meat cleaver in his restaurant kitchen.

In 1994, he was made a Member of the Order of Canada. 

Armstrong's story is told in his autobiography: Bromley: Tireless Fighter for Just Causes.

A00036 - Louis Stokes, Ohio's First African American Congressperson

Louis Stokes (February 23, 1925 – August 18, 2015) was an attorney and politician from Cleveland, Ohio. He served 15 terms in the United States House of Representatives  – representing the east side of Cleveland – and was the first African American congressman elected in the state of Ohio.

Born in Cleveland, Stokes and his brother Carl B. Stokes lived in one of the first federally funded housing projects, the Outhwaite Homes. Louis attended Central High School. Stokes served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1946. After attending Western Reserve University and Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Stokes began practicing law in Cleveland in 1953.

Stokes argued the seminal "stop and frisk" case of Terry v. Ohio before the United States Supreme Court in 1968. Later, in 1968, he was elected to the House, representing the 21st District of Ohio on Cleveland's East Side. He shifted to the newly created 11th District, covering much of the same area following a 1992 redistricting. Stokes served 30 years in total, retiring in 1999.

Stokes' tenure in the House of Representatives included service on the House Appropriations Committee, where he was influential in bringing revenue to Cleveland. He was particularly interested in veterans' issues and secured funds for health-care facilities for veterans in Cleveland. In the 1970s, Stokes served as Chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations, charged with investigating the murders of President John F. Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Stokes also served on the House committee that investigated the Iran-Contra Affair. 

Stokes' brother, Carl B. Stokes, was the first African American mayor of a large American city. His daughter, Angela Stokes, became a Cleveland Municipal Court judge while another, Lori Stokes, became a journalist with WABC-TV New York. His son, Chuck Stokes, also became a journalist with WXYZ-TV in Detroit. Funk and soul musician Rick James was a cousin.

Stokes and his wife, Jay, have seven grandchildren. He is also a Prince Hall Freemason, and a member of the Cleveland Alumni chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.

Stokes retired in 2012 as Senior Counsel in the law firm of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, with offices in Cleveland and Washington. 

Stokes died on August 18, 2015 at his home in Cleveland from lung and brain cancer at the age of 90.

The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority,  located in Cleveland, Ohio, opened the Louis Stokes Museum on September 13, 2007. This Museum houses Stokes memorabilia, video interviews, misc. video footage, awards and a written history about Stokes and his rise to prominence. The museum is located at Outhwaite Homes, 4302 Quincy Avenue. 

From 2006 to 2008, the Western Reserve Historical Society opened an exhibition on the lives of Congressman Stokes and his brother titled "Carl and Louis Stokes: From the Projects to Politics". The exhibit uses photographs, manuscript collections, and personal items to showcase Louis Stokes' rise from the Outhwaite homes, his legal career, and his Congressional service.

The former Congressman was inducted into the Karamu House Hall of Fame in 2007 for his contributions to the continued legacy of Cleveland's African American settlement house and theatre.

Many buildings throughout the country have been named in Stokes honor including: Howard University's medical library, the Cleveland Public Library's main building expansion, GCRTA's Windermere station Louis Stokes Station at Windemere, and the greater Cleveland area Veteran's hospital was renamed the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center.

A00035 - Carol Channing, Hello Dolly! Star

Carol Channing, in full Carol Elaine Channing   (b. January 31, 1921, Seattle, Washington), American actress and singer known for her comically outsize performances, gravelly voice, and animated features.

Channing was born Carol Elaine Channing in Seattle, Washington, on January 31, 1921, the only child of George and Adelaide Channing (née Glaser; 1886–1984). Her father was born George Christian Stucker, but changed his surname before his daughter's birth. A city editor at the Seattle Star, her father took a job in San Francisco and the family moved when Channing was two weeks old. Her father later became a Christian Science practitioner, editor, and teacher. She attended Aptos Junior High School and Lowell High School, San Francisco, graduating in 1938. She won the Crusaders' Oratorical Contest and a free trip to Hawaii with her mother in June 1937.

According to Channing's 2002 memoir, Just Lucky I Guess, when she left home to attend Bennington College in Vermont, her mother informed her that her father George, who Channing had believed was born in Rhode Island, had actually been born in Augusta, Georgia.  Adelaide claimed her husband's father was German-American and his mother was African-American, a claim supported in part by 1900 United States Census for Augusta, Georgia, which lists George C. Stucker, his sister, Estelle Stucker, and their elder half-sister, Connie Johnson, living with their mother, Clara Page; all four individuals are identified as black.  Channing's paternal grandmother had moved with George to Providence, Rhode Island for his opportunities. According to Channing's account, her mother reportedly did not want Channing to be surprised "if she had a black baby". Channing's mother's family was of German descent.

As she was of majority European-American ancestry, Channing continued to identify as white as a performer on Broadway and in Hollywood. She made her claim to African-American ancestry in her autobiography, Just Lucky I Guess (2002), which contains a photograph of her mother, but no photos of her father or son. The book claims her father's birth certificate was destroyed in a fire.

Channing was raised in San Francisco. After modeling and teaching dance in high school, she enrolled at Bennington College in Vermont. Though she ultimately dropped out, during this period she secured work in stock productions and was signed by the William Morris Agency in New York City. In 1941, Channing made her New York City stage debut in No for an Answer, and the following year she first appeared on Broadway in Proof Through the Night.

Chorus and understudy work followed before her breakout role in Lend an Ear (1948), a musical revue that showcased her talent for mimicry. Anita Loos, author of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, saw the show and cast her in the 1949 musical adaptation of her novel as the gleefully scheming Lorelei Lee, who memorably asserted that “diamonds [were] a girl’s best friend.” The role would later be identified with Marilyn Monroe, who played Lee in the 1953 film version. Channing would, however, later reprise her role in Lorelei; or, Gentlemen Still Prefer Blondes (1975).

Channing made her film debut in Paid in Full (1950), a little-seen melodrama. She returned to the stage, touring in Pygmalion (1953) before performing in the Broadway productions of Wonderful Town (1953; toured 1954) and The Vamp (1955), a poorly received musical about a silent film star. She appeared in the television special Svengali and the Blonde (1955) opposite Basil Rathbone and on-screen in The First Traveling Saleslady (1956), a western in which she starred with Clint Eastwood. 

In 1964 Channing created what would become the defining role of her career, Dolly Gallagher Levi, an 1890s matchmaker who schemes to wed a wealthy client. The Broadway show, Hello, Dolly!, based on a Thornton Wilder play, was widely acclaimed; Channing received the Tony Award for best actress in a musical. She starred in a number of revivals of the show throughout her career, though Barbra Streisand was awarded the role of Dolly for the film version (1969). Channing’s appearance in the Julie Andrews vehicle Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) as a loopy society widow represented the apex of her own film career. In later years Channing starred in a number of touring cabaret shows and television specials and did voice-over work for numerous children’s films and cartoons.

In addition to her stage and screen work, Channing released several albums, among them Carol Channing Entertains (1965), Jazz Baby (1994), and For Heaven’s Sake (2010); the latter was a compilation of gospel standards learned from her father. She recorded her show-business reminiscences in Just Lucky I Guess: A Memoir of Sorts (2002). She received a special Tony Award in 1968 and in 1995 was awarded a Tony for lifetime achievement. The documentary Carol Channing: Larger than Life was released in 2011.

A00034 - Lincoln Alexander, First African Canadian Member of Parliament

Lincoln MacCauley Alexander (January 21, 1922, Toronto, Ontario, Canada – October 19, 2012) was a Canadian politician and statesman who served as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, the federal Minister of Labour, and later as the 24th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, from 1985 to 1991. Alexander was also a governor of the Canadian Unity Council.

Alexander was born in a row house on Draper Street in Toronto, Ontario, to Mae Rose, who migrated from Jamaica, and Lincoln Alexander, Sr., a porter on the Canadian Pacific Railway who came to Canada from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Alexander went to Earl Grey Public and Riverdale Collegiate.  As a teen Alexander moved to Harlem with his older half-brother Ridley and his mother after she was the victim of a violent altercation with his father. In New York he went to DeWitt Clinton High School, but returned to Canada in 1939. He first distinguished himself in service to Canada in the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War. After the war, Alexander completed his studies at Hamilton Central Collegiate and then to McMaster University in 1946 to study economics and history. Alexander graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto in 1953. He then practiced law in Hamilton with the firms Okuloski & Okuloski; Duncan & Alexander; and Millar, Alexander, Tokiwa & Issacs.

In 1968, Alexander ran in the Canadian federal election as the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada candidate in the Hamilton West electoral district.  He won, becoming Canada's first Member of Parliament of African descent.He held the seat through four successive elections until stepping down in 1980.

While in office, he spoke to the press about then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's alleged profanity in the fuddle duddle incident and was an observer to the United Nations in 1976 and 1978. In the brief government headed by Joe Clark from 1979 to 1980, Alexander served as Minister of Labour. He resigned his seat in 1980 to serve as chairman of the Ontario Workers' Compensation Board. 

In 1985, on the advice of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Governor Jeanne Sauve appointed Alexander as Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. He became the first person of African descent to serve in a viceregal position in Canada. (James Douglas, who was of mixed descent, was Governor of Vancouver Island and of British Columbia prior to Canadian Confederation when these were British colonies with no connection to the Canadas.) During his appointment, he focused attention on education, racism and youth issues.

In 1992, Alexander was appointed to the Order of Ontario. He also became a Companion of the Order of Canada.  From 1991 to 2007, he served as Chancellor of the University of Guelph.  His term exceeded that of any of his predecessors, and he assumed the office of Chancellor Emeritus.

In 2000, Alexander was named Chair of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation, where he remained an active spokesman on race relations and veterans' issues. Until the time of his death, he was the Honorary Patron of the Hamilton, Ontario branch of St. John Ambulance, as well as Honorary Chief of the Hamilton Police Service. 

In November 2006, his autobiography Go to School, You're a Little Black Boy: The Honourable Lincoln M. Alexander: A Memoir was published.

Alexander died in his sleep on the morning of October 19, 2012, at the age of 90. The national and provincial flags outside the Ontario Legislative Building were flown at half-mast and tributes were given by various viceroys and politicians. His body lay in state, first inside the Ontario Legislative Building at Queen's Park, followed by Hamilton City Hall. He was survived by his second-wife Marni Beal and by his son Keith Lincoln Alexander (from his marriage to his first wife Yvonne Harrison (predeceased in 1999)) and by his daughter-in-law Joyce Alexander and grandchildren Erika and Marissa Alexander.

Alexander was accorded a state funeral with the co-operation of thousands of officials, both Provincial and Federal, and Police Services across Canada. The Province of Ontario proclaimed January 21. as Lincoln Alexander Day in Ontario. It became law in December 2013. As of December 3, 2014, Lincoln Alexander Day January 21, Lincoln's birthday, is now recognized officially as Lincoln Alexander Day across Canada, with Royal Assent by the Governor General December 9, 2014.