For more than thirty years, Danita built a career writing and producing stories for television, film, documentary, and live performance. Along the way, she learned something that would later shape her work as an educator:
Stories change the way people think, feel, and understand one another.
Years later, Danita's research into Reconstruction introduced her to Black congressmen, senators, judges, educators, and civic leaders whose stories had been largely absent from the history she was taught.
That discovery led to years of historical research and a deeper conviction: understanding the past requires asking not only what happened, but whose voices were included, whose were left out, and why it still matters today.
That conviction found its way into the classroom.
Through the Entertainment Community Fund's Teaching Artist Program, Danita created and piloted an interdisciplinary history lesson with students at Harvard-Westlake School. Students investigated history, questioned assumptions, collaborated creatively, and connected the past to choices being made today.
In that experience, Danita saw how her two worlds could come together.
Professional storytelling could help students experience history differently.
Today, Living History™ combines historical inquiry, multiple perspectives, storytelling, creative expression, and civic reflection to help students move beyond memorizing the past.
The goal is not simply to teach students what happened.
It is to help them understand that history is still being shaped. And they are part of it.
Explore how Living History™ works with schools, educators, and organizations.