© 2024 Kansas City Public Radio
NPR in Kansas City
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

St. Louis Civil Rights Pioneer Looks Back On Long Career

Former US Commissioner of Civil Rights Frankie Muse Freeman
Former US Commissioner of Civil Rights Frankie Muse Freeman

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-824967.mp3

Kansas City, MO – Frankie Muse Freeman is a St. Louis attorney who has practiced law for over 60 years. She's a civil rights lawyer, and with the NAACP, battled housing and education discrimination. Freeman was later appointed by President Johnson to be the first black woman to serve on the US Commission on Civil Rights. She served in that role for 14 years through the Nixon, Ford and Carter administrations. She was also president of Delta Sigma Theta, a sisterhood of mostly black college-educated women. In 2003, Frankie Freeman described her life experiences in a memoir, called A Song of Faith and Hope. And today, at 93 years old, Freeman still goes to her law office three days a week, and is involved in various St Louis community organizations. She was in town last week, and KC Currents' Susan Wilson sat down with her.

This story was produced for KC Currents. To listen on your own schedule, subscribe to the KC Currents Podcast .

A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Susan admits that her “first love” was radio, being an avid listener since childhood. However, she spent much of her career in mental health, healthcare administration, and sports psychology (Susan holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Bloch School of Business at UMKC.) In the meantime, Wilson satisfied her journalistic cravings by doing public speaking, providing “expert” interviews for local television, and being a guest commentator/contributor to KPRS’s morning drive time show and the teen talk show “Generation Rap.”
KCUR prides ourselves on bringing local journalism to the public without a paywall — ever.

Our reporting will always be free for you to read. But it's not free to produce.

As a nonprofit, we rely on your donations to keep operating and trying new things. If you value our work, consider becoming a member.