January 2025

Alma Stokes, The Struggle in Pasadena

Notes by Sharon Jarrett

The 1619 Lingering Imprint Discussion Group met on July 19, 2024 at 12:00 PM PST.  The group had a guest speaker, Alma Stokes, a Pasadena resident of many decades.  The meeting was recorded and is available on the Pasadena Village YouTube channel.

Mrs. Stokes has been a teacher and social activist in the community for many decades. She and her husband came to Pasadena in 1953. They both grew up in San Bernardino and felt there was more opportunity in Pasadena. Over time she moved from working for the postal service to being a teacher at Washington Elementary School.  She became a teacher following her husband's passing.  They had four children and the school system offered her options, although limited, particularly in the school where she was assigned.

She began her social justice work by starting a program to assist abused children and families.  The focus of this program was understanding the state, city and community programs and services available to families.

The daughter of an AME pastor, Mrs. Stokes attended St. Barnabas Episcopal, Brown Memorial and Scott Methodist churches over a period of time.  She is currently a member of the All Saints Episcopal Congregation.  She responded to questions about the current process of coming together and healing in process between St. Barnabas and All Saints.  This was necessitated by the history of separation of the two churches based on racial separation.

Dick Myers then asked Mrs. Stokes if she had seen progress over time in terms of race and equality.  Mrs. Stokes referenced Allensworth, CA and Tulsa, OK and the destruction of these communities compared to the present time.  She believes people work hard and desire to see their lives improve. There are opportunities for people of diverse backgrounds and these people are meeting one another. While all that is true, she indicated the schools are more segregated currently.  She is hopeful good educational programs will bring more families into the schools and end this.

When asked by an attendee what participants could do to help this coming together, Mrs. Stokes stressed the need to foster connections in the community,  promote understanding between diverse people and learn history.  She concluded with sharing her belief that individual stories are critical to fostering understanding.  She suggested participants in Pasadena join the Pasadena Educational Foundation, find ways to help the schools, volunteer with Young and Healthy and support programs like Union Station.

The participants and Pasadena Village members will follow up on these suggestions. 

The next meeting of the Civil Rights Movement Discussion Group, hosted by Jim Hendrick, will be in the office on Wednesday, August 28 at 1pm and registration for members only is required. We will celebrate the 61st anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and hear Martin Luther King, Jr give his “I Have a Dream” speech.

The last meeting of this group ended with a very interesting discussion about the difficulties in values of meetings between blacks and whites and the natural inhibitions to speak frankly. This is the kind of discussion that is particularly hard to hold.

In our September 20^th meeting, we will have a special guest, Betty Kilby, who previously spoke to us about her book, Cousins. This presentation was about two branches of a family rediscovering one another and coming together. Betty was very much a part of the integration of Virginia schools and her upcoming presentations will focus on those events rather than no her family relationships.  We look forward to hearing her again.

In our only August meeting, on August 16^th at 12pm Pacific, we would like to talk about the current situation at that point of the campaign for the presidency. It’s hard to predict the nature of the conversation at this point except that it will certainly involve issues of race. We look forward to continuing these discussions with the hope of improving the world we live in.

As always, we welcome guest so if you have friends who might be interested, feel free to pass this info on to them.