Freedom, Inc. or Freedom, Incorporated of Kansas City Missouri is a political organization founded in 1961
by five
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
political activists,
Bruce Watkins, Howard Maupin, Charles Moore, Fred Curls,
Leon Jordan. This was crucial to
desegregation
Racial integration, or simply integration, includes desegregation (the process of ending systematic racial segregation), leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws ...
of Kansas City Missouri public facilities, the election of many black
Missouri State Representatives since 1963, the "strong" candidacy of
Bruce R. Watkins for Mayor of Kansas City in 1978-79, the 1982 election of
Alan Wheat
Alan Dupree Wheat (born October 16, 1951) is an American economist, lobbyist, and politician who served six terms in the U.S. House of Representatives from the state of Missouri from 1983 to 1995.
Early life
His father was James Wheat, an offi ...
, the first black Congressman to represent a majority-white district in the
Greater Kansas City Missouri Metropolitan Area,
the 1991 election of
Emanuel Cleaver
Emanuel Cleaver II (born October 26, 1944) is a United Methodist pastor and American politician who has represented in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2005. He was previously the mayor of Kansas City, Missouri, from 1991 to 1999, the ...
as
the first black mayor of Kansas City, and—according to new information reported on
KKFI on February 18, 2012 during an on-air interview of filmmaker Emiel Cleaver, possibly a blueprint responsible for elections of
"First Black Mayors" in
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
and other major U.S. cities. The organization was reportedly the
brainchild of
Leon M. Jordan and
Bruce R. Watkins, who were elected its first chairman and co-chairman, respectively.
References
External links
Nonpartisan organizations in the United States
Organizations based in Kansas City, Missouri
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