Fredda Witherspoon

Fredda Witherspoon (1923 or 1924–1996), formerly Fredda Crawford, was an educator and activist in St. Louis, Missouri. She was also known for her close ties to the community, serving as the president of the Missouri Conference of the NAACP and as vice chair of the St. Louis Urban League. She often explained that it was a necessity to put her intellectual creativity to good use, particularly within her local community. Her personal motto exemplified this line of thought: "Everyone should do all the good she can as she passes along life's highway; time is fleeing and life is too short to be unkind and thoughtless; we pass this way but once." This act furthered the overarching legal battle over racially restrictive covenants and pushed the Supreme Court to overturn the constitutionality of these covenants across the United States.