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A few years ago, Frankie Muse Freeman said she was ready to wind down and take life easy
after more than a half century of civil rights work, as well as public and private appointments.
But duty called, and she couldn't say no. She seldom can say no when the issue involves education and city schools.
One of eight children, Frankie was born in 1916, in Danville, Virginia, the daughter of a teacher and a railway clerk.
Frankie decided at a young age that she would work to upend the Jim Crow laws that dictated where she and others
could ride, eat, watch movies, or live.
In 1947, she graduated second in her class from Howard University School of Law.
In 1949, she opened a law office in St. Louis, the hometown of her husband, Shelby Freeman.
Early on in her career, she participated in a civil rights case in which two black students at a public school in St. Louis
sought access to a course offered only for whites.
The courts ruled that the school board had to allow admission to the black students, or provide such a course at their own school.
Rather than follow the order, the board dropped the course.
But the experience connected Freeman to others committed to improving civil rights.
I think that everybody has an individual responsibility to make the world better, to make the community better, Frankie said.
As long as we're living, we have a responsibility to keep active and do what we can.
In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson nominated her to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
She became the first woman named to the commission, and she remained a member for 16 years.
She had returned to private practice in St. Louis when President Jimmy Carter asked her to serve
as an inspector general in the Community Services Administration.
In 1999, Frankie didn't say no when she was asked to lead a task force overseeing a settlement that ended the
St. Louis area desegregation case.
The settlement called for a task force of parents, civic leaders and business leaders to watch over the terms of the agreement.
Frankie, along with fellow Pioneer in Education, William H. Danforth, were named its co-chairs.
In 2006, she and Danforth led a panel that studied the troubled St. Louis Public Schools.
The committee's recommendations influenced the state in its decision to put control of the schools in the hands of an appointed board.
Soon thereafter, the State Board of Education declared the district unaccredited and appointed a three-member
special administrative board that has been in power since.
She continues to help and give insight to schools, as well as other committees and organizations, such as
the Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, the American Civil Liberties Union, and her longtime church,
the Washington Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in St. Louis.
Her Memoir, A Song of Faith and Hope: The Life of Frankie Muse Freeman, was published in 2003.
In 2007, she was honored with a place on the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site in Atlanta.
She has been named to the Academy of Missouri Squires.
She was the St. Louis' 2011 Citizen of the Year; and she received the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's Spingarn Medal,
the association's highest honor. Gov. Jay Nixon declared that day as Frankie Muse Freeman Day.
For 52 years, Frankie was married to Shelby Freeman, Jr. who died July 12, 1991.
She has one daughter, Shelbe Patricia Bullock, a son-in-law Ellis Bullock, Jr., three grandsons and four great-grandsons.
Frankie’s son, Butch, died in May, 1958, at age 11, of post-viral encephalitis syndrome.
Freeman said a reliance of faith, prayer and family helped her get through the ordeal.
Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro said Freeman has been instrumental in helping the state
decide the best course of action for the city's schools.
Frankie is one of those rare individuals who always thinks about what's best for kids, Nicastro said.
That just makes her an outstanding person for us to rely on and a great resource for us to depend on.
Frankie is pleased with the work she and others have done to improve the city's schools.
But she's quick to acknowledge that there's far more to do regarding parental involvement,
the students themselves and a lack of resources.
The grades have to be better, and it's difficult, and more work has to be done, but it is being done, Frankie said.
We're making progress.
A civil rights attorney, a friend to Missouri schools, a presidential appointee, a wife and mother.
She is a pioneer.