A long-time St. Louis attorney and civil rights activist is this year's recipient of the top award from the NAACP.
Frankie Freeman will receive the 96th Spingarn Medal from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in July.
She was honored Wednesday on the floor by Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who called the medal an appropriate recognition of Freeman's 60-plus years of civil rights activism.
"She has endured abuse and discrimination, but through it all she worked with intellect and dignity while employing one of her very best weapons - a warm and friendly personality and a very quick smile," McCaskill said of Freeman.
Freeman was the lead lawyer on the 1952 case that ended discrimination in St. Louis public housing. She was also the first woman to serve on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
