Stanley Tolliver was involved in numerous significant social reform campaigns from the middle of the 20th century until his death. In 1965, he traveled to Mississippi to represent civil rights protestors. Locally, he accused police and prosecutors of misconduct while representing the Glenville riot defendants, college students involved in the fatal 1970 Kent State demonstration, and the organizers of a McDonalds boycott protesting the absence of black franchise owners. A member of the Cleveland Board of Education for 12 years, he participated in efforts to desegregate the schools and introduce Black Studies into the curriculum. Tolliver was a trustee of the Antioch Baptist Church, president of the Norman Minor Bar Association, president of the local chapter of the National Council of Black Lawyers and a recipient of the Cleveland NAACP’s Freedom Award.