Freeland

Freeland is a fictional neighborhood featured in the CW Network television series Black Lightning. It is the main setting from the series and first appeared in the pilot episode, "The Resurrection".

Description
Freeland is an urban neighborhood in an unidentified city. Nearly a decade ago, Freeland became the base of operations for a costumed super-human known as Black Lightning. Black Lightning was in reality, a school principal named Jefferson Pierce, who had the ability to project bolts of electricity from his body. This power came at great personal cost to himself however, and ruined his marriage. Following his divorce, Pierce retired as Black Lightning and decided to protect the people of Freeland by enhancing their minds and career opportunities through his work at Garfield High School.

In the years following Black Lightning's retirement, a criminal organization known as The 100 exorcised its control over every available enterprise, including weapons dealing, prostitution and the sale and distribution of narcotics. The head of The 100 was a man named Tobias Whale. In time, The 100 had a complete grip on the city, and even the Freeland Police Department seemed impotent to do anything.

Jefferson Pierce had made an arrangement with one of The 100's capos, Lala, who was a former student of his. Lala agreed to a hands-off policy as it related to the school and its students. In 2018, one of Lala's underlings, Will, broke this arrangement when he came to Garfield High brandishing a weapon, and terrorized one of Jefferson's daughters, Jennifer Pierce. This altercation eventually led to Will abducting Anissa, as well as her older sister, Anissa.

Jefferson Pierce was forced to come out of retirement in order to save his family. Seeking the aid of his old contact and mentor, Peter Gambi, he donned a new Black Lightning costume and went to the Seahorse Motel, where his daughters were being held captive, and rescued them.

Points of Interest

 * Club 100: Club 100 was a nightclub in Freeland specializing in hip-hop music. It was owned and operated by members of The 100 criminal organization for which it was named. Anissa Pierce went there to party one evening where she met a young man named Will. Will was a junior criminal and minor member of The 100. When the club's owner, Lala, learned that Will was present, he brought Anissa and he into his office, where he physically assaulted him for failing to provide the money that was owed him. When Jefferson Pierce learned that Anissa had gone to the club, he went to there to collect and had an altercation with the club's bouncer.


 * Garfield High School: Garfield High School was a private school, grades 9-12, located in the neighborhood of Freeland. Jefferson Pierce worked there as the school principal in the years following his retirement as Black Lightning. Both of his daughters, Anissa and Jennifer attended school there, and Jennifer worked as a student teacher. Jefferson Pierce had a close relationship with a teacher named Ms. Fowdy. Pierce made a secret arrangement with Lala of The 100 and made him promise to keep gang activity away from the school. This treaty was broken when one of Lala's thugs, Will, came to the school brandishing a weapon. Pierce later addressed a community event in the school's gymnasium where he spoke about the rising dangers posed by The 100.


 * Seahorse Motel: The Seahorse Motel was located in the neighborhood of Freeland. Members of The 100 criminal organization used it as a base of operations for their prostitution ring. Freeland Police Department inspector, Henderson, was aware of the illegal activity taking place there, but was powerless to take action against them unless he could convince the prostitutes to testify against The 100. A man named Will abducted two women, Anissa and Jennifer Pierce, and brought them to the motel, where they were to be forced into prostitution. The girls' father, Jefferson Pierce, came out of retirement as the costumed hero, Black Lightning, and went to the hotel to rescue them. He liberated his daughters, and incapacitated Will, but within forty-eight hours, the motel was back up and running. A woman named Lawanda White, whose daughter was one of those that The 100 had abducted, decided to stake out the motel, recording everything on her mobile device. When she saw The 100 capo, Lala, come up to the motel, she confronted him, but Lala resolved the matter quickly by shooting her three times in the chest, killing her. White's cell phone, which she had left on her car's dashboard, recorded the entire affair on video.

Residents

 * Anissa Pierce
 * Inspector Henderson
 * Jefferson Pierce
 * Jennifer Pierce
 * Lynn Stewart
 * Tobias Whale