  Frankie Muse Freeman accepts 2014 Women's History Month Governor's Proclamation on behalf of the Missouri Women's Council. Pictured: Dr. Alissa Warren, Executive Director of the Missouri Commission on Human Rights; Norma Nisbet, President & Owner of Vista Properties; Michelle Word, Principal, Burns & McDonnell; Frankie Muse Freeman, Attorney & Civil Rights Leader; Lisa Althoff, Executive Director, Missouri Women's Council; Nicole Colbert-Botchway, Attorney & President of the Mound City Bar Association
Frankie Muse Freeman, Esq.
Civil Rights Activist and Attorney—
The Missouri Women's Council has many outstanding women that are recognized on our traveling history exhibit. One of these outstanding women, FRANKIE MUSE FREEMAN has distinguished herself in the legal profession and in service to others in the State of Missouri. She has dedicated her life’s work to the civil rights movement. She broke down barriers as a member of the NAACP’s brain trust during the 1950s and from 1965 to 1979 was the first woman to serve on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Freeman was instrumental in creating the Citizen’s Commission on Civil Rights in 1982 and holds numerous memberships on charitable and civic boards. Freeman began her practice in St. Louis in 1949 as legal counsel to the NAACP legal team that filed suit against the St. Louis Board of Education in 1949.
Freeman was the lead attorney for the landmark case Davis et.al. v. the St. Louis Housing Authority, which ended legal racial discrimination in public housing within the city.
In March 1964, Freeman was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She was subsequently reappointed again by Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter, and held the position until July 1979. She also became the Inspector General for the Community Services Administration during President Jimmy Carter’s administration.
Freeman published her memoirs in a book entitled A Song of Faith and Hope. Freeman was the 96th recipient of the NAACP Spingarn Medal, which is the most prestigious award by the NAACP. Freeman is a member of the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame. Freeman became the 14th National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. in 1967, a Trustee Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Howard University, past Chair of the National Council of Aging, Inc. and the National Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. She is also a board member of United Way of Greater St. Louis, the Metropolitan Zoological, Museum District and the St. Louis Chapter for International Relations.
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