The filmmaker

David Freund is a writer, educator and Associate Professor of History at The University of Maryland, College Park. He is author of the prize-winning Colored Property (Chicago, 2007), The Modern American Metropolis (Wiley, 2015), and essays in venues including The Washington Post, Just Money, and The Metropole. Before joining Maryland’s faculty, he received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, taught at Princeton University and Rutgers University, Newark, and studied documentary filmmaking at The Tisch School of the Arts.

For decades Freund has worked on public history and educational projects including workshops for students and teachers, museum and digital exhibits, and documentary film series (including California Newsreel's Race: The Power of an Illusion). Organizations that have recognized his work include The Smithsonian Institution, the Organization of American Historians, The U.S. Department of Education, 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 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.