 After high school, Freeman went on to graduate from East Texas State University and then served in the Air Force. Joining Southwest Airlines in 1980, he would become the company's first black chief pilot and the first black chief pilot of any major U.S. airline in 1992. In 2005, Lou Freeman made history once again as the pilot chosen to fly the coffin-containing civil rights icon Rosa Parks to its final resting place in Detroit, Michigan. A humble man, Lou Freeman promoted diversity in the aviation industry