# Theophilus Freeman — Twelve Years a Slave character guide

> Theophilus Freeman in Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Freeman, Mr. Theophilus Freeman, Theophilus

**First appearance:** 0008-v

## Snapshot

The New Orleans slave trader who sells Solomon with the same brisk efficiency he uses to separate Eliza from her children and call it business.

## Who they are

Freeman runs a slave pen where human beings are stripped, inspected, and priced, and he prides himself on moving inventory quickly. He enlarges on Solomon's musical attainments to close a sale, then turns on Eliza with a raised whip when her grief threatens to slow the transaction. His savagery is not personal but professional, a reminder that the market itself is the machine of cruelty. He matters because he is the threshold between Solomon's old life and the Louisiana plantations, the man who converts a kidnapped free man into a commodity.

## Relationships

### [Elizabeth](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/characters/elizabeth)

_professional_

Elizabeth is a slave owned by Freeman, who sells her and her children, treating them as property.

### [Little Emily](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/characters/little_emily)

_professional_

Little Emily is a young enslaved girl owned by Freeman, who sells her away from her mother Elizabeth.

### [Little Emily](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/characters/little_emily)

_professional_

Little Emily is a young enslaved girl owned by Freeman, who sells her away from her mother Elizabeth.

## In the story

### [Arrival at Norfolk and the Voyage to New Orleans](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/chapters/v)

Consignee who receives Burch's gang in New Orleans; forces Solomon to answer to the name Platt.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/chapters/vi)

Slave trader who prepares and sells slaves; refuses to sell Emily, separating her from Eliza.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/characters/theophilus_freeman
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/twelve_years_a_slave_se/characters