St. Louis’ public education system has gone through many twist and turns, and attorney Frankie Muse Freeman, 95, has been there for many of them.
When Freeman received the 2011 St. Louis Citizen of the Year award on May 9, she urged the audience members to commit to improving public education.
“Each of us needs to accept individual responsibility to help improve the students’ performance,” she said at the ceremony in the Emerson Performance Center at Harris-Stowe State University.
More than 150 people watched Freeman receive the award, which is sponsored by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Citizen of the Year Committee, a group of past honorees who select the newest recipients.
For more than 60 years, Freeman has practiced as a civil rights attorney and committed her life to freedom-fighting. She is still an attorney with St. Louis law firm Montgomery, Hollie and Associates.
St. Louis is fortunate that the Virginia-native came to St. Louis by way of Howard University, said Donald M. Suggs, publisher and executive editor of The St. Louis American and a previous recipient of the Citizen of the Year award.
“We’ve reaped the benefits of her courageous and dedicated leadership,” Suggs said. “She has been a stalwart advocate in the remediation of social-economic injustices, as well as a champion for addressing the crisis in urban education.”
Advice to the president
Her work to create equality in education goes back to the 1960s, when Freeman served as one of the U.S. Commissioners on Civil Rights from 1964 to 1980.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked the commission to conduct a study on racial isolation in the public schools. After conducting hearings and studies around the country, the commission gave its report to the president, with a supplementary statement from Freeman.
Freeman stated to the president, “The schools are critical in determining what kind of society this will be.”
She said schools are fertile ground for preventing people from making decisions based on race – decisions like who gets the job, who lives down the block and even the essential worth of a person.
“They would be less likely to make decisions based on race or class if they get to know one another,” she stated to the president. “The cycle must be broken in classrooms.”
In her statement, she said our country is on a “collision course” created by a dualistic education system based on economic background and race. It can be resolved by combining resources and efforts. Her statement was made in February 1967 – 45 years ago.
“It could also be said today,” she said.
Freeman reminded the audience of St. Louis’ history of injustice.
In 1971, several African-American parents received notice that due to school overcrowding, the district planned to send their children to a more dilapidated elementary school. In 1972, five parents filed a class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court to desegregate the city’s schools.
After 25 years of litigation, an agreement was reached, she said. And in 1999, Freeman and William Danforth, Washington University chancellor emeritus, were appointed as co-chairs to lead a 25-member taskforce to oversee the agreement.
Again in 2006, Kent King, then Missouri commissioner of education, appointed Freeman and Danforth to a special advisory committee, which also included Suggs and attorneys Michael Middleton and Ned Lemkemeier. If the St. Louis Public School District lost its accreditation, the taskforce recommended that the state turn district oversight to a three-person appointed board.
Danforth said these recommendations led to many positive changes.
“Frankie is always wise and well-informed,” Danforth said. “She knows the history and what is taking place at the moment. Her legal background is very helpful also. I always learn something from her.”
Again in November 2009, current Missouri commissioner of education Chris Nicastro asked the taskforce to come together again and make recommendations for the district.
“We accepted the assignment,” Freeman said. “Nothing is more important to the growth of our region than the strong, healthy and effective education system in the City of St. Louis.”
Freeman told the audience that they found the district’s three-member Special Administrative Board (SAB) had remedied several key problems. And under Superintendent Kelvin Adams’ leadership, the district has made substantial improvements.
“But more needs to be done,” she said. “Some individuals have accepted the responsibility.”
‘A positive change’
She gave credit to several people for making progress, including Judge Jimmie Edwards’ Innovative Concept Academy, Karen Kalish’s Teachers Home Visit Program, and all those at the St. Louis Zoo, Science Center and museums who focus on education.
She thanked Wells Fargo for adopting three SLPS schools and for Chief Dan Isom and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for granting officers time off to support the area youth through Big Brothers, Big Sisters.
The United Way of Greater St. Louis also launched an initiative for 2,000 volunteers to be reading partners and mentors throughout the community.
“All of this should make a difference,” Freeman said. “The important thing is that we create a positive change to improve diversity and improve graduation rates.”
Melanie Adams, an SAB member for the SLPS district, said she was happy to receive an assignment from one of the most well-respected education advocates.
“She put the responsibility on the people in the room,” Adams said.
“As goes the public schools, as goes the city. She’s been doing this for 60 years, and you’re optimistic? How long does positive change take? That was the question running through my mind.”
