Olivia Pearl Stokes papers : additions

1972-1992

Olivia Pearl Stokes, educator, lecturer, author, and administrator, was born on January 1, 1916, in Middlesex, North Carolina, and raised in New York City. She received her B.S. and her M.A. in Education from New York University. In 1952, Stokes completed her Ed.D. at Teacher's College, Columbia University. She was an ordained minister in the American Baptist Churches and was well known as a religious educator.

Stokes began her professional career as the Associate Director of the Baptist Educational Center in Harlem. From 1953 to 1966, she served as Director of the Department of Religious Educatio for the Massachusetts Council of Churches. Her affiliation with the National Council of Churches included her work as an Urban Educational Consultant to their Department of Educational Development, 1966-1973, and as a consultant to the Division of Education and Ministry, 1975-1976. During her teaching career, Stokes was an associate professor at City University of New York (Lehman College and City College) and New York University. She also taught at the Colgate Rochester Theological School and the Andover-Newton Theological Seminary.

Stokes was a founder of the Greater Harlem Comprehensive Guidance Center in 1979, and served as its executive director from 1979 to 1990. The Center serves minority adolescent students through counseling, career guidance, and cultural enrichment programs. In 1986, as a Fulbright Fellow, she studied Yoruba civilization at the University of Ife, Nigeria. In 1990, Dr. Stokes was a fellow at the Mary Bunting Institute of Radcliffe/Harvard University.

As a lecturer, Stokes used her experiences as an educator and traveler to speak about religious topics, educational issues, and African society and culture. She published two books for children, Why the Spider Lives in Corners and The Beauty of Being Black. She also contributed to many religious and educational publications.

Among the honors awarded Dr. Stokes are the National Bethune Achievement Award of the National Council of Negro Women in 1976, and the International Award from the Business and Professional Women's Association in 1979. She was one of fifty-five Black women profiled in the 1981 Radcliffe College book Women of Courage. In 1987, she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa from Marymount Manhattan College.