Meet the Author

John Stokes
Students on Strike
Wednesday, April 9 7 pm Oxon Hill Branch

John Stokes has waited more than 50 years to give his eyewitness account of "The Manhattan Project." This was the name he and a group of fellow students gave their strike at R. R. Moton High School that helped to end separate schooling for blacks and whites, not only in his home state of Virginia, but throughout America. Told in Stokes' own words, the story vividly conveys how his passion for learning helped set in motion one of the most powerful movements in American history. This inspirational, first-person account follows the course of the lawsuits filed by the NAACP, which became part of the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic ruling on Brown v Board of Education, resulting in the desegregation of schools—and life—in the United States.

John Stokes grew up as one of six children on a small farm in Kingsville, VA. He worked as a teacher in the Baltimore public school system, retiring as a principal in 1994. He now lives in Lanham, MD. Age 9 & up and adults.