Biography

Frankie Muse Freeman is one of the great women of our time. At a time when others tried to place limits on her aspirations, she chose to follow her dreams and help lead the fight against discrimination.

Freeman is a graduate of Hampton University and a 1947 graduate of the Howard University Law School. In 1948, after writing several law firms and not hearing back from them, she decided to establish her own private practice. She started her practice with pro bono, divorce and criminal cases. After two years, Freeman began her work in civil rights when she became legal counsel to the NAACP legal team that filed suit against the St. Louis Board of Education in 1949. In 1954, Freeman was lead attorney for the landmark NAACP case Davis et al. v. the St. Louis Housing Authority which ended legal racial discrimination in public housing in St. Louis, Missouri.

Freeman worked as staff attorney for the St. Louis Land Clearance and Housing Authorities from 1956 until 1970, first as associate general counsel and later as general counsel of the St. Louis Housing Authority. In March 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated her as the first woman to serve as Commissioner of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She was subsequently reappointed by Presidents Nixon, Ford and Carter, and held the position until 1979. In 1979, Freeman was appointed Inspector General of the Community Services Administration during the Carter Administration. A year later, Republican Ronald Reagan was elected president and demanded the resignation of all Democratic inspector generals appointed by previous presidents. Freeman returned to St. Louis where she has practiced law ever since.

In 1982, Freeman joined 15 other former high federal officials who formed a bipartisan Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, a group committed to ending racial discrimination and devising remedies that could counteract its harmful effects. She has extensive experience in the areas of housing, civil and probate law, and civil rights, and has represented individuals and corporations, not-for-profit organizations and municipal agencies in state and federal courts.

Freeman is a Trustee Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Howard University and past Chair of the Board of Directors of The National Council on the Aging, Inc. She is a past Board member of the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Girl Scouts of the United States of America, the YMCA Metro St. Louis and the United Way of Greater St. Louis. She is also a former board member of St. Louis Regional Oasis and the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District. Freeman is a past national president of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a membership service oriented organization of over 200,000 college-educated women.

Freeman is a member of the Executive Committee of the St. Louis City NAACP, the National Bar Association, the Mound City Bar Association, Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis and Washington Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church.

Freeman has received many community service awards for outstanding achievement. She is the recipient of honorary degrees from University of Missouri-St. Louis, Harris-Stowe State University, Washington University, Hampton University, Saint Louis University, Aquinas Institute of Theology, Eden Theological Seminary and Howard University.

Freeman was inducted into the National Bar Association's Hall of Fame in 1990. In 2007, she was inducted into the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta, Georgia, for her leadership role in the Civil Rights Movement. For her involvement and impact, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper named her the 2011 Citizen of the Year. In 2011, during the NAACP's national convention in Los Angeles, California, Freeman received the prestigious NAACP Spingarn Award, the NAACP's highest honor. In 2013, Focus St. Louis presented Freeman with its Leadership Award. She has received the ABA Women Trailblazer award and in 2014 she received the Frankie Muse Freeman Trailblazer award named in her honor by The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis.

A native of Danville, Virginia, Frankie M. Freeman was married to Shelby T. Freeman, Jr. who died July 12, 1991. She has one daughter, Shelbe Patricia Bullock, three grandsons and four great grandsons. In 2003, Freeman published her memoir, A Song of Faith and Hope: The Life of Frankie Muse Freeman. In 2015 President Barack Obama appointed long-time civil rights lawyer Frankie Freeman as a member of the Commission on Presidential Scholars.

Related Articles

Chelsea Bailey, Civil rights attorney Frankie Muse Freeman dies at 101, U.S. News (Jan. 13, 2018), https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/mlk-50/civil-rights-attorney-frankie-muse-freeman-dies-101-n837491 [https://perma.cc/9JZZ-D5GZ].

Frankie Muse Freeman, iconic St. Louis civil rights activist, dies at 101, St. Louis Today, (Jan. 12, 2018), https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/obituaries/frankie-muse-freeman-iconic-st-louis-civil-rights-activist-dies/article_4ad22dfb-af7f-5b4b-b2bd-63f3d455eece.html [https://perma.cc/B7YY-BNPD].