Frankie Muse Freeman remembered

Frankie Muse Freeman, Missouri lawyer and civil rights icon, died Jan. 12. She was 101. Freeman joined The Missouri Bar in 1948 and played a central role in landmark St. Louis civil rights cases that challenged segregation in public schools and public housing. Freeman was also the first woman named to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. In 2014, Freeman received a Spirit of Excellence Award from the American Bar Association’s Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession.

“I could write for days about Mrs. Freeman’s remarkable accomplishments and her incredible passion for social justice—and for life as a whole,” St. Louis judge Nicole Colbert-Botchwaysaid in a recent article for The Missouri Bar. “Nevertheless, Mrs. Freeman is also a humble person. Her message for any attorney, at any stage in his or her career, continues to be ‘serve others, in any way you can, every day.’”

As reported by the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Freeman’s body will lie in repose from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday in the Grand Hall of the Missouri History Museum. The public is invited to the viewing. Her funeral will be at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Washington Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church, 3200 Washington Avenue. Services are open to the public. Burial will follow at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.

In lieu of flowers, Ms. Freeman’s family has requested that donations be made in the name of Attorney Frankie Muse Freeman to Washington Tabernacle Nance Scholarship fund and Howard University.

Click here to read Colbert-Botchway’s full essay on Freeman and here to learn more about Freeman’s 2014 recognition from the ABA.