James Dillet Freeman

Who was James Dillet Freeman?

James Dillet Freeman was a poet and a minister of the Unity Church, a New Thought denomination. Freeman was born in Wilmington, Delaware. He was of Cherokee, Choctaw, English, and Irish descent.

Freeman was sometimes referred to as the "poet laureate to the moon" because his poems were twice brought to the moon, "a distinction he shares with no other author." His 1941 "Prayer for Protection" was taken aboard Apollo 11 in July 1969 by Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin, and a microfilm of Freeman's 1947 "I Am There" was left on the moon by James B. Irwin on Apollo 15. Freeman received the inspiration to write 'I Am There' during the death of his first wife Katherine.

Freeman's poems include "Blessings for a Marriage" and "The Traveller." The latter poem was written after one of Freeman's friends had died.

While James Dillet Freeman worked for Silent Unity and was a writer for the Unity magazine called Daily Word for most of his adult life, he proudly proclaimed on many occasions that he had never joined Unity, revelling in his independent nature and personifying a spirit present throughout Unity and the New Thought Movement. Freeman became a millionaire from his prolific writings.