Clay Salutes Civil Rights Legend Frankie Muse Freeman
Famed Attorney to Receive NAACP’s Highest Honor, Spingarn Medal for Lifetime Achievement
 

WASHINGTON, DC- Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) Missouri today offered his warmest congratulations to nationally acclaimed civil rights attorney and St. Louis community leader Frankie Muse Freeman, who will be honored with the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP’s highest award for lifetime achievement.  The medal will be presented to Atty. Freeman on July 28th at the NAACP national convention in Los Angeles.
 

“Frankie Freeman is a legal legend whose contributions as a civil rights attorney and as the first female member of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission changed this country forever,” said the Congressman.  “Frankie has been a good friend and mentor of mine for almost thirty years.  Her inspired advocacy laid the groundwork for the Federal Voting Rights Act, ended racial discrimination in public housing, and provided dedicated oversight of the St. Louis Public Schools and the voluntary desegregation plan. She is truly a national treasure and is most deserving of this high honor.”
 

In the official announcement issued by the NAACP Board of Directors, Chairman Roslyn M. Brock said, "Frankie Muse Freeman 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 as the first woman to serve on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Her determination to end racial discrimination in American society for more than half a century serves as an inspiration to us all."

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