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photo by steed media service
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Attorney/Civil Rights Leader
“In my own way, in my own space and my own time, I have worked and
tried to make a difference,” said 90-year-old civil rights leader
Frankie Freeman, who was honored during the National Urban League’s
Women of Power Awards luncheon on July 28.
Throughout her life, Freeman has worked to protect the rights of the
disenfranchised. Having practiced law for more than five decades,
Freeman is best known for working to desegregate public housing
throughout St. Louis in 1954.
“I can say I don’t have the energy I had 50 or even 40 or 10 years ago;
[however], this whole week and this award has energized me and I can
say that I don’t feel in any way tired. In the words of [poet Robert]
Frost, ‘The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but we have promises to
keep and miles to go before we sleep,’ ” said Freeman, having moved the
entire crowd with her acceptance speech at the luncheon.
“There are individuals in this room with whom I have worked at some
time or another over more than four decades for equal justice and equal
economic equality and friends who have shared the pain of group and
individual prejudice . individuals who were participants in the Civil
Rights Movement and [who were] dedicated [to] the rule of law and have
recognized the interrelationship, interdependence and partnership that
we must establish and maintain as we continue to work and eliminate all
forms of discrimination and achieve equal justice and economic
equality,” said Freeman – adam jones
