The filmmaker

David Freund is a writer, educator and Associate Professor of History at The University of Maryland, College Park. He is the author of several books, including the prize-winning Colored Property (Chicago, 2007) and The Modern American Metropolis (Wiley, 2015), as well as essays, book chapters, and commentaries in venues including The Washington Post, Just Money, and The Metropole. Prior to joining Maryland’s history department in 2007, he received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, taught at Rutgers University and Princeton University, and studied filmmaking at The Tisch School of the Arts, where he produced documentary shorts about work, parenting, and daily life in modern America.

For three decades he has contributed to public history and educational projects including workshops for social studies teachers (through the Gilder Lehrman Institute), documentary series (including Race: The Power of an Illusion), and multiple museum and digital exhibits. Organizations that have recognized his work with honors and fellowships include the Organization of American Historians, The Urban History Association, The Smithsonian Institution (National Museum of American History), The Urban Affairs Association, The U.S. Department of Education, The Wilson Center (Washington, D.C.), the Ford Foundation, and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.

Freund grew up in suburban Los Angeles and studied History and German at the University of California, Berkeley, then worked in publishing and the restaurant industry for several years before pursuing a career in history. He and his wife divide their time between Maryland and West Virginia, and their kids will be the first to tell you that he makes a really good risotto and pasta Bolognese.