Volume 119 Issue 10
The Record Horace Mann’s Weekly Newspaper Since 1903 Courtesy of Barry Bienstock
Bienstock edits collection of essays by late wife Professor Jan Ellen Lewis Allison Markman Staff Writer History teacher Barry Bienstock published his newest book, “Family, Slavery, and Love in the Early American Republic: The Essays of Jan Ellen Lewis,” this October. The book is a collection of thirteen essays by his late wife, Professor Jan Ellen Lewis, contributing to the fields of gender, slavery, the Constitution, and Jefferson studies, while also helping to develop the field of the history of emotions. The book received positive recognition for its excellent historical analysis and important insights, Bienstock said. Lapham’s Quarterly ran an excerpt from the book and Book Authority listed it as second out of the 33 most influential and important books about slavery that must be read in 2022. Professor Lewis helped shape many developing fields of history, Bienstock said. She was among the first to write about the history of emotions, he said. Bienstock wanted to publish the book not only to honor his wife, but also as something for his grandchildren to remember her by. “One of the things that most distressed my wife when she got her terminal diagnosis was that her granddaughters would grow up not remembering her, so this book is dedicated to them,” he said. “My hope is as they get older, it gives them a direct connection to her.” Bienstock is excited that the book is finally published and completed, as he has been working on it since 2019. “It’s a strange feeling because it’s out there in the world, and I’m just going to see what the reaction is,” he said. So far, seeing the public’s reaction has been gratifying, he said. “People have told me how beautiful the book is and how excited they are to read essays that they had not known about,” Bienstock said. “I was pleased to see the book excerpt published in ‘Lapham’s Quarterly,’ and I was thrilled that Book Authority identified the book as a ‘must read’ book on slavery.” The book is organized into four sections: Gender in the Early American Republic, The History of Emotions, Constitutional and Legal History, and Thomas Jefferson Studies. The framing essays for each section were written by renowned historians Carolyn Eastman, Nicole Eustace P’ 24, David Waldsteicher, Annette Gordon-Reed, and Peter S. Onuf, he said. “Rather than being simply compartmentalized into one field of
gender studies or race, she looked at the entire field of the early national period and the influence that politics, gender, race, and the Constitution, all had together,” Bienstock said. In 2019, Bienstock reached out to publishers to begin the publishing process. Signing the book contract was thrilling for Bienstock because he felt like it was the right time to publish Lewis’ work, he said. “It’s a really prestigious publisher,” he said. “They do only seven or eight books a year, and they put a lot of care and attention into the quality of their books. The Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture in conjunction with the University of North Carolina Press is known in the profession of producing some of those important books in American history.” Many of the historians Bienstock chose to write the framing essays attended a session of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic in 2019, an event where Bienstcok suggested scholars to discuss Lewis’ research, he said. “Those were the people who later contributed the framing essays for the book. They are people who are distinguished historians – who I knew really appreciated Jan’s scholarship,” he said. It was not difficult for Bienstock to find the material Lewis had created, because she wrote so much, he said. Instead, the process became about narrowing all the essays down. “She had published a lot over the years and written a lot,” he said. “So it was winnowing it down to ultimately what we thought were the best of those articles and they came down to 13.” Tracking down all of the sources Lewis used to ensure proper citation was one of the more challenging aspects of the process, Beinstock said. “The publisher wanted to double check everything before it was published. That meant I also had to go through her files and see her handwriting and the meticulous notes she took as she was doing her research.” Through the process, Bienstock refamiliarized himself with all of Lewis’ extensive research, which spanned over four decades, he said. Lewis first became interested in Jefferson studies during her time in graduate school with the publication of “Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History (1974)” by Fawn M. Brodie, which provided an intimate look into Jefferson’s private life, Beinstock said. Brodie was the first major historian to suggest that Jefferson had a relationship with an enslaved woman
named Sally Hemmings, he said. On November 12, historian Robert Caro ‘53 hosted a book publication party to celebrate Bienstock’s accomplishment. Caro held the event for Bienstock because they have become friends over the years, and Caro was also a friend of Lewis, Beinstock said. “He was very impressed with the quality of the book and also the physical look of the book.” 40 people attended including alums, Bienstock’s co-editors Peter Onuf and Annette Gordon-Reed, the historians who wrote the framing essays, people in publishing who were friends of Bienstock, and colleagues, he said. Of the 40 people in attendance, five were Bienstock’s former students, whose graduation classes ranged from 1986 to 2017. “It was a pretty thrilling evening,” he said. History teacher Dr. Elisa Milkes said the event felt very communal, as almost all of the people in attendance were friends of Bienstock, she said. The event felt like a celebration; it recognized the work that went into publishing the book and honored Professor Lewis’ contributions, Milkes said. The most memorable aspect of the event for Milkes was the speech Bienstock delivered, she said. “[He discussed] why it was so important for this book to come out as a tribute to his wife, and also all the other scholars that she mentored in their scholarly work and in their personal lives. I think his speech was able to really bring that out, and how connected they were,” she said. Head of the Upper Division Jessica Levenstein said that in addition to being a celebration of the publication of the book the event was also very moving as it honored Lewis. “There were speeches that various people gave at the party, and a lot of them really spoke about Jan Lewis’s impact as a human being, so it was really very beautiful,” she said. During his speech, Bienstock discussed the cover art on the book, Levenstein said. “He said he wanted the cover of the book to be as beautiful as Jan.” Caro also delivered a speech at the event that discussed Bienstock and their relationship, Levenstein said. “Robert Caro gave a really beautiful speech about Mr. Bienstock and their friendship and how Mr. Bienstock was responsible for Mr. Caro’s relationship to Horace Mann, and for the prize that’s in Mr. Caro’s name.”
December 3rd, 2021
First Environmental Issues Series spotlights Flowers Hannah Katzke and Kate Beckler Staff and Contributing Writers
PUBLISHING PARTY Bienstock, Caro, and colleagues celebrate release of Professor Lewis’ essays.
record.horacemann.org
Author and activist Catherine Coleman Flowers discussed the importance of looking beyond oneself and taking action on behalf of environmental issues at the first Upper Division (UD) Environmental Issues Series: “Where Do We Go From Here?: A Multifaceted Look at Climate Change and the Environmental Issues We Face” on Tuesday. Claire Goldberg (12) moderated the event with history teacher Dr. Ellen Bales and math and science teacher Catherine Crowley. Flowers founded the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ), an organization that advocates for environmental justice, according to the Speaker Series’ website. Growing up in Lowndes County, Alabama, Flowers saw how poverty and failing infrastructure contaminated the county’s drinking water and people’s backyards with sewage. After the success of the UD History Series last year, Goldberg was inspired to start a series on the importance of race and justice on climate change and the environment, she said. “I thought that the Environmental Speaker
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commitment to approaching everyone as people first rather than assuming their character based on political beliefs, she said. “That seemed to me like both a pragmatic and a generous and human way to be in the world. It’s a model for all of us.” Flowers also discussed how activism is only successful if people work together, she said. “We’re all part of an ecosystem, and everyone is responsible for their own actions and those actions’ outcomes.” Throughout the event, Flowers stressed the urgency of environmental issues and how sitting back and doing nothing will only lead to further destruction, she said. Bales hopes that the Environmental Issues Series created a space for people to discuss and understand the urgency of pressing environmental issues, she said. “Not everyone has to be an activist, not everyone has to be a scientist, but there are ways we can all contribute.” After a great turnout, Goldberg hopes that Flower’s words motivate people to think about the environmental impacts of racist histories and policies, Goldberg said. “If even a few kids resonate with what Flowers said yesterday, it would be a success.” Goldberg hopes the event exposed
“We’re all part of an ecosystem, and everyone is responsible for their own actions and those actions’ outcomes.” - Catherine Coleman Flowers
Series could complement the history speaker series in a powerful way that will hopefully spark important conversations.” While the event style is similar to that of the UD History Series, the UD Environmental Issues Series centers solely around environmental issues, Bales said. During the event, Flowers spoke about how her experience as a teacher gave her the skills needed to be a successful activist, she said. She focuses on sanitation issues in rural communities like Lowndes County because many people, especially in urban areas, do not understand what these communities face unless they see it themselves. When reaching out to potential speakers, Bales saw Flowers as the dream candidate, she said. Bales found Flowers’ advocacy for sanitation and waste as human rights to be inspiring, she said. In 2020, Flowers published her memoir, “Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret,” which addresses the consequences of climate change for marginalized groups and access to proper sanitation. In preparation for the UD Environmental Issues Series, Bales taught Flowers’ memoir to her Global Environmental History, Atlantic World History, and US History classes, she said. During the event, Flowers said she was surprised by the support she received from people of all political backgrounds. She tries to bridge divides through dialogue, she said. Bales appreciated Flowers’
attendees to living conditions that exist outside of the urban environment that most students live in, she said. Most members of the community do not even know these conditions — where people do not have access to basic resources like sanitation disposal — exist, she said.“I hope that everyone who comes to the speaker series reconsiders what things in their lives they take for granted.” Flowers’ stories of important front-line work as well as her warmth and relatability were phenomenal, Rosenblum said. “Many people were able to connect with [Flowers] on different levels.” Scientist Benjamin Strauss will be the guest speaker at the February Environmental Issues Series, and students will hear from environmental historians Bathsheba Demuth and Jack Davis in April. Courtesy of Speaker Series website
CATHERINE COLEMAN FLOWERS