He was the son of a carpenter who had bought his family's freedom and then moved to Raleigh, Northern Carolina.

During his late teens, Freeman worked for a mentor, Dr. Henry Bliss Noble, a white dentist in Washington.

[3] After receiving his DMD (Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry) degree, Freeman returned to Washington, D.C., to launch a dental practice, establishing himself in the same building as his mentor, Dr. Noble.

Fours years removed from graduating and practicing professionally, Freeman contracted an unspecified water-borne disease that resulted in his untimely death on June 10, 1873.

Cabinet, serving under President Lyndon B. Johnson as Secretary of Housing & Urban Development.