Anson Phelps Stokes (April 13, 1874 – August 13, 1958) was an American educator, historian, clergyman, author, philanthropist and civil rights activist.

Early life

Stokes was born in New Brighton on Staten Island, New York, to Anson Phelps Stokes and Helen Louisa ( Phelps) Stokes. He shared his name with his father, the prominent banker, and his son, Anson Phelps Stokes Jr., an Episcopal bishop. He attended Yale University, graduating in 1896 with a bachelor's degree. At Yale he was inducted into Skull and Bones. He then traveled, mostly in East Asia. In 1897, he entered the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to prepare for the priesthood, and received his bachelor of divinity degree in 1900, although it was not until 1925 that he formally became a priest.

Career

In 1899, Stokes took the post of Secretary of Yale University, second in command to the university's president, and he also served as assistant rector of Saint Paul's Episcopal Church in New Haven, Connecticut, from 1900 to 1918. Stokes was a favorite to replace Arthur T. Hadley as president of Yale in 1921, and was said to have had the support of a majority of the Yale Corporation, but a vociferous minority insisted that an outsider was needed at the helm of the university, and Stokes was passed over for James Rowland Angell. From 1924 to 1939, Stokes was resident canon at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. During this time, he became involved in many social, cultural, and ecclesiastical causes, and guided the philanthropy of the Phelps Stokes Fund (established in 1911) to improve the lives of African and American blacks. In 1936, he published a short biography of Booker T. Washington, which was an expanded version of a sketch he had written for the Dictionary of American Biography. Stokes saw all of his work as "fellowship in the gospel" (Philemon 1:5).

Personal life

In December 1903, Stokes married Caroline Mitchell. They had three children, all born in New Haven, Connecticut: He died after a lengthy illness in his Lenox, Massachusetts, home.

Works

Stokes wrote these works: