Age: 85
Residence: Shadyside
Family: Wife, Jane; children, Michael Freeland Sr. and Lisa B. Freeland; and two grandchildren
Background: A Baltimore native, Freeland graduated cum laude in 1947 with a bachelor's degree from Howard University in Washington, and graduated with honors in 1950 from the law school at the University of Maryland, where he was the first black elected to the Order of the Coif. He was a Tuskegee Airman for the Army Air Corps during World War II and flew as a bombardier with the 477th Bombardment Group. He was one of the 101 officers arrested for entering the white officers club at Freeman Field near Seymour, Ind. Freeland began practicing law in 1951 with an emphasis on civil rights and criminal cases. He was the first president of the Neighborhood Legal Services Association, a nonprofit the Allegheny County Bar Association established in 1966 to provide legal services to the poor. He served as the president of the Urban League of Pittsburgh and the senior vice president of the National Urban League.
Noteworthy: The Amen Corner, a Pittsburgh civic and social organization that dates to 1870, presented Freeland with its first Professional Achievement Award. He said one of his most important recent achievements was getting the state Supreme Court to admit George B. Vashon to the bar. Vashon, a Pittsburgh native, was a 19th-century abolitionist and poet, the first black graduate from Oberlin College and the first black admitted to the bar in New York. Pennsylvania refused to admit him to the state bar in 1847 because of his race. Freeland represented Vashon's family in petitioning the justices to reverse the decision.
Quote: "That was very much important to me. It was something that was 163 years overdue."
