Herbert Freeman was born on May 3, 1941, in Vanceboro, North Carolina. When Mr. Freeman was two years old his father became ill, and his mother moved him and his siblings to Engelhard, NC. In Engelhard Mr. Freeman's mother worked as a domestic worker and raised her six children by herself. Mr. Freeman attended school through twelfth grade in Engelhard and worked in tobacco during his youth. He later worked at a segregated white-only beach in Nags Head, NC. Though Mr. Freeman first came to Washington in 1962, he soon returned to North Carolina to attend a barber school. After he completed school, Mr. Freeman returned to DC, earned his barbering license, and began working as a barber in Washington. After working at several different barber shops, Mr. Freeman opened his own barber shop in Brightwood Park in 1976, Freeman's House of Styles. Mr. Freeman has been married for over fifty years, has two sons, and continues to work at his barber shop to this day.