Will Ross to Receive Frankie Freeman Inspirational Award

WashU Nephrology congratulates Will Ross, MD, MPH, Alumni Endowed Professor of Medicine, Nephrology, and Associate Dean for Diversity at Washington University School of Medicine, who will receive the Frankie Freeman Inspirational Award at the Ethical Society of St. Louis this Friday, February 17, 2023. 

The event is sponsored by the St. Louis County Library (SLCL), which is hosting events throughout Black History Month as part of its “Celebrating Black Resistance to Injustice” program. 

The award is in honor of Frankie Muse Freeman, a Virginia native and prominent civil rights lawyer.  After graduating second in her class from Howard Law School, Freeman opened a law office in St Louis, where she has spent more than six decades working to advance civil rights.  Freeman was still practicing law in St. Louis until the age of 90; she died at the age of 101 in 2018.  Read more about Frankie Muse Freeman’s extraordinary life here.

In addition to Dr. Ross’ many accomplishments, he was recently named the 2022 Person of the year by The St. Louis American newspaper, considered the leading, most-trusted voice of the area’s African-American community.  Please read The St. Louis American’s excellent article by Sylvester Brown Jr. featuring Ross.

The SLCL event on Friday will also feature the Frankie Freeman Inspirational Lecture by Carlotta Walls LaNier, who will discuss her memoir “A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High School.”  LaNier made history as the youngest member of the nine African-American students who desegregated Central High School in Little Rock (Pulaski County) in 1957. 

Follow this link for more information of the event to be held at 7pm at the Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Road, St. Louis, MO, 63117.  Registration information and more details are available here.

On Twitter, follow @rosswr, @WUDeptMedicine, @StLouisAmerican,  @SLCL and @WUNephrology.