A Song of Faith and Hope: The Life of Frankie Muse Freeman
By Frankie Muse Freeman
With Candace O'Connor
With Candace O'Connor
Growing up in the Jim Crow-era South, Frankie Freeman learned lessons
about discrimination. She walked places instead of taking the segregated
streetcar; she felt hurts and vowed privately never to forget. But in
her loving family, she also learned positive lessons about living: work
hard, get an education, fight injustice, and make a difference. Freeman
took all these lessons to Hampton Institute, to Howard University law
school, then to her career as a St. Louis civil rights attorney, winning
a landmark victory in the area of fair housing. In 1964, she became the
first woman appointed to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, leaving
in 1979 to serve as inspector general of the Community Services Administration.
During these years, she was also St. Louis Housing Authority general counsel and
lost her job amid bitter controversy stirred up by a commission hearing
in St. Louis County. This memoir tells the story of Frankie Freeman's
life and career. There were high points, such as meetings with President
Lyndon Johnson, historic commission hearings, and her national presidency
of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. There were also difficult events, such
as the illness and death of her husband and son. Through it all, she continued
to fight for what she believed in; she kept her faith and carried on.
2003
216 pages, 85 ills., index
ISBN: 1-883982-41-3, $29.95, hardcover
ISBN: 1-883982-41-3, $29.95, hardcover

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