Editing Morgan Freeman (section)

== Early life and education ==
Freeman was born on June 1, 1937 in [[Memphis, Tennessee]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Steinbeiser|first1=Andrew|date=June 1, 2015|title=Happy Birthday! Morgan Freeman Turns 78 Today|url=https://comicbook.com/2015/06/01/happy-birthday-morgan-freeman-turns-78-today/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601154434/http://comicbook.com/2015/06/01/happy-birthday-morgan-freeman-turns-78-today/|archive-date=June 1, 2015|access-date=June 1, 2015|website=ComicBook.com}}</ref> He is the son of Mamie Edna (née Revere; 1912–2000), a teacher,<ref name="AAL2">{{cite web|title=Morgan Freeman profile|url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/profiles/freeman.html|access-date=July 13, 2011|work=African American Lives 2|publisher=PBS|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110814161744/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/profiles/freeman.html|archive-date=August 14, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> and Morgan Porterfield Freeman (July 6, 1915 – April 27, 1961),<ref name=":0" /> a barber, who died of [[cirrhosis]] in 1961.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|last=Tracy|first=Kathleen|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/69672088|title=Morgan Freeman : a biography|date=2006|publisher=Barricade Books|isbn=978-1-56980-307-3|location=Fort Lee, N.J.|pages=7–9, 14|oclc=69672088|access-date=March 20, 2021|archive-date=March 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320141259/https://www.worldcat.org/title/morgan-freeman-a-biography/oclc/69672088|url-status=live}}</ref> He has three older siblings.<ref>{{Cite book|last=DeAngelis|first=Gina|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/40862074|title=Morgan Freeman|date=2000|publisher=Chelsea House Publishers|isbn=0-7910-4963-9|location=Philadelphia|pages=12|oclc=40862074|access-date=March 20, 2021|archive-date=March 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320141304/https://www.worldcat.org/title/morgan-freeman/oclc/40862074|url-status=live}}</ref> Some of Morgan's great-great-grandparents were slaves who migrated from North Carolina to Mississippi. He later discovered that his white maternal great-great-grandfather had lived with and was buried beside Freeman's black great-great-grandmother in the [[segregated South]], as the two could not legally marry at the time.<ref name="AAL2" /> The DNA test suggested that among all of his African ancestors, a little over one-quarter came from the area that stretches from present-day [[Senegal]] to [[Liberia]] and three-quarters came from the [[Congo Basin|Congo]]-[[Angola]] region.<ref>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0cralRa6tlYC&q=morgan+freeman+three+quarters&pg=PA77|title = ''In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past''|year = 2009|last = Gates|first = Henry L. Jr.| publisher=Crown |isbn = 9780307409737|access-date = October 17, 2020|archive-date = March 20, 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210320141259/https://books.google.com/books?id=0cralRa6tlYC&q=morgan+freeman+three+quarters&pg=PA77|url-status = live}}</ref>

As an infant, Freeman was sent to his paternal grandmother in [[Charleston, Mississippi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://us.hellomagazine.com/profiles/morgan-freeman/|title=Profiles: Morgan Freeman|work=[[Hello! (magazine)|Hello]]|date=October 8, 2009 |location=London, England|access-date=May 27, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527120924/https://us.hellomagazine.com/profiles/morgan-freeman/|archive-date=May 27, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="actors">{{cite episode|title=Morgan Freeman|series=[[Inside the Actors Studio]]|network=[[Bravo (American TV network)|Bravo]]|date=January 2, 2005|season=11|number=10|last=Lipton|first=James (host)|author-link=James Lipton}}</ref> He moved frequently during his childhood, living in [[Greenwood, Mississippi|Greenwood]], Mississippi, [[Gary, Indiana]], and finally [[Chicago]].<ref name="actors" /> He made his acting debut aged nine, playing the lead role in a school play. He then attended [[Greenwood High School (Mississippi)|Broad Street High School]], a building which serves today as Threadgill Elementary School in Greenwood.<ref>[https://movies.nytimes.com/person/90514/Morgan-Freeman/biography "Morgan Freeman: Full Biography,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602014021/http://movies.nytimes.com/person/90514/Morgan-Freeman/biography |date=June 2, 2013}} All Movie Guide, via ''[[The New York Times]].''. Retrieved October 9, 2012.</ref> At the age of 12, he won a statewide drama competition, and while settling into school, discovered music and theater. When Freeman was 16 years old, he contracted [[pneumonia]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Antonia|last=Blumberg|title=Morgan Freeman Explains How God Can Be Real And An Invention|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-story-of-god-with-morgan-freeman-miracles_us_572a3535e4b096e9f08ff85e|work=[[The Huffington Post]]|publisher=Huffington Post Media Group|location=New York City|date=May 5, 2016|access-date=March 23, 2017|archive-date=March 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320141328/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-story-of-god-with-morgan-freeman-miracles_n_572a3535e4b096e9f08ff85e|url-status=live}}</ref>

Freeman graduated high school in 1955, but turned down a partial drama scholarship from [[Jackson State University]], opting instead to enlist in the [[United States Air Force]].<ref name=":9" /> He served as an Automatic Tracking Radar repairman, rising to the rank of [[airman first class]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://airforce.togetherweserved.com/profile/119477|title=TogetherWeServed – A1C Morgan Porterfield Freeman|work=togetherweserved.com|access-date=August 23, 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140504075655/http://airforce.togetherweserved.com/profile/119477|archive-date=May 4, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> After serving from 1955 to 1959, he moved to [[Los Angeles]] and took acting classes at the [[Pasadena Playhouse]].<ref name=":9" /> He also studied theater arts at [[Los Angeles City College]], where a teacher encouraged him to embark on a dance career.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Whitaker|first=Charles|title=Is Morgan Freeman America's Greatest Actor?|journal=Ebony|date=April 1990|pages=32–34|issn=0012-9011}}</ref>