Marie Frankie Muse-Freeman was born on November 24, 1916, and expired on January 12, 2018. She was from Danville, VA. She was one of the twenty-two founders of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated on the college campus of Howard University in Washington D.C. Delta Sigma Theta is a historically African American Greek-lettered sorority. T The daughter of William Brown Muse and Maude Beatrice Smith Muse, Ms. Freeman came from a college-educated family. Her relatives included Charles Sumner Muse, Edward Muse, and Clarence Muse. She attended Westmoreland School and learned to play the piano. At age sixteen, Freeman enrolled in her mother's alma mater, Hampton Institute, which she attended between 1933 and 1936. While in New York, Freeman met and married Shelby T. Freeman. In 1944, she was admitted to Howard University Law School where William H. Hastie and Spottswood Robinson were on the faculty. While a student at Howard Law, Freeman became a member of Epsilon Sigma Iota sorority, the first American legal sorority for women of color. Freeman graduated second in her class and received her law degree in 1947. In 1948, after writing to several law firms and not hearing back from them, Muse decided to establish her own private practice. She began her practice with pro bono, divorce, and criminal cases. After two years, Freeman began her work in civil rights when she became legal counsel to the NAACP legal team that filed suit against the St. Louis Board of Education in 1949. In 1954, Freeman was the lead attorney for the landmark NAACP case Davis et al. v. the St. Louis Housing Authority, which ended legal racial discrimination in public housing with the city. Settling in St. Louis, Freeman worked as a staff attorney for the St. Louis Land Clearance and Housing Authorities from 1956–70, first as associate general counsel and later as general counsel of the St. Louis Housing Authority. In March 1964, she was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson as a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. On September 15, 1964, the Senate approved Freeman's nomination and she was officially appointed as the first black woman on the civil rights commission. Freeman was subsequently reappointed by presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and held the position until July 1979. She was appointed as Inspector General for the Community Services Administration during Jimmy Carter's presidential administration in 1979. A year later, the Republican Ronald Reagan was elected president and demanded the resignation of Democratic inspectors general appointed by previous presidents. Freeman returned to St. Louis, where she practiced law. In 1982, Freeman joined 15 other former high federal officials who formed a bipartisan Citizens Commission on Civil Rights, a group committed to ending racial discrimination and devising remedies that would counteract its harmful effects. At age 90, she was still practicing law with Montgomery Hollie & Associates, L.L.C. in St. Louis, a three-attorney firm. She had numerous volunteer activities, such as adult Sunday school classes at Washington Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. She was on the board of the World Affairs Councils of America, St. Louis, with the mission to promote understanding, engagement, relationships, and leadership in world affairs. In 2003, she published her memoir, A Song of Faith and Hope. She was the 14th National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. In 2007, Freeman was inducted in the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame at the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site, Atlanta, Georgia, for her leadership role in the Civil Rights Movement. On February 5, 2015, President Barack Obama appointed Freeman to serve as a Member of the Commission on Presidential Scholars. She turned 100 in November 2016. Freeman was a Trustee Emeritus of the Board of Trustees of Howard University, past Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Council on Aging, Inc. and the National Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis. She was also a board member of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District, and the St. Louis Center for International Relations. Ms. Freeman received honorary doctorate degrees from several institutions to include Hampton University, University of Missouri–St. Louis, Saint Louis University, Washington University in St. Louis and Howard University.1990. She was inducted into the National Bar Association's Hall of Fame in 2011, received the Spingarn Medal of the NAACP in2014, and the Spirit of Excellence Award from the American Bar Association Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession. Sister Freeman had the honor of having a statue erected in downtown St. Louis in Kiener Plaza, at 500 Chestnut Street, which was unveiled on November 21, 2017. The honor was presented by the NAACP and had many patrons to include Washington Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church where she was an active member. Sources Biography https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/honorable-frankie-freeman Delta Sigma Theta https://www.deltasigmatheta.org/founders