1) Nicholas Fesette's essay take on recent titles by Orisanmi Burton, Robin Bernstein, Holly M. Karibo, Melanie Newport and Doran Larson doi-org.pitt.idm.oclc.org/10.1353/aq.2... 2/3

Many congratulations to historian Robin Bernstein, whose book FREEMAN'S CHALLENGE was named a nonfiction honoree by the Massachusetts Book Awards! Read more about the award and the book here: buff.ly/U5dy7fM

The Raisins of Wrath

Thanks for reviewing Freeman's Challenge, Nick! I can't wait to read this review.

I'm thrilled to announce that Freeman's Challenge has received Nonfiction Honors for the Massachusetts Book Awards. I'm incredibly grateful. @uchicagopress.bsky.social #BookAward #MassBookAwards #prisons

The president is sending the military to control American cities and if you're a reporter who's framing that illegal power grab as "pushing the boundaries of constitutionality" or "acting boldly to fight crime" or whatever, please go find another line of work where you won't get us all killed.

Backyard rabbit nest! Their eyes are still closed, but they're very active.

A person who is used to covering for and enabling pedophiles would say this

Swoon, US mixed media artist known for her street art and who specializes in life-size prints and paper cut-outs of human figures #ReframingWomenPrintmakers

Wow. The University of Chicago, a world-class institution whose humanities faculty in the past has included Homi Bhabha & Lauren Berlant & Ralph Ellison & Hannah freaking Arendt, is getting rid of basically every graduate department involving the acknowledgment that other cultures & languages exist.

Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared

I edited a book where the author, without checking first, had an AI application "tidy up" her notes. What it in fact did was redo them entirely, changing real citations to fictitious ones. It made a lot of extra work. AI has no concept of fact, only of probability, and has no place in scholarship.

100% attack 0% damage baby goat... 👀😅🤣 #bluesky

Seriously considering using this whole thread as an object lesson in why not to use Chat GPT on the first day of classes this semester. Sheesh.

I honestly can’t believe there are still any AI skeptics out there. This tech is obviously revolutionary

By contemporary US artist Martha Rich #WomensArt

🗃️ Submission to “Student AI use is inevitable so let’s lean into it” BY HISTORIANS is confounding. Thought we all knew about contingency: nothing is inevitable, the past, present, or future. AI is not a foregone conclusion. As present day historical actors, we can make choices, incl not using AI.

“American Academy of Arts&Sciences reports 96.3% of humanities grads age 23-32 fully employed. Earnings in humanitiess comparable to social/life sciences, job satisfaction levels too. A serious mismatch bw actual employment for hum grads +general perception." www.mellon.org/voices/human...

Years ago, a friend who is an expert in tea said something that's stayed with me. She said, "There is no bad tea." Then she explained that the cheapest, mass-produced, commercial black or green tea is still good tea. Artisanal tea is better, sure, but the cheap stuff is still good. Here's why:(1/6)

Setting aside the ethical and environmental concerns of AI, I'm really offended by a bunch of elite dudes telling us our minds aren't good enough when they've had to steal everything human minds have created to create their pretend mind and it doesn't even work right!

“Thorpe is part of an experimental program in the Maine state prison system that allows incarcerated people to work remote jobs from custody. Though unconventional, these opportunities have proven immensely rehabilitative.” Way to go, Maine! 👏🏾

RIP to Malcolm Jamal-Warner, who reportedly has died after drowning in Costa Rica at the age of 54. For many of us, he was the brother we never had on The Cosby Show. He later appeared on shows like The Resident. He leaves behind a wife and daughter. This one hurts. variety.com/2025/tv/news...

How excited am I about the new issue of Sinister Wisdom? It's a compendium of 3 poetry chapbooks by Chocolate Waters. This is the perfect way to introduce a new Sapphic generation to this biting, sexy, funny, intense work. PS: Check out my favorite poem: "Question/Answer," p.68. You won't be sorry.

I came up with some rhymes that tickle me. My GF says they're awful. "We can make bricolage in my ecolodge, But Baby, don't bogart the folk art."

I love this clip from @positivetalkradio.bsky.social. I talk about watching #Roots when I was a kid--and what it meant to me as a little white girl and future historian. @uchicagopress.bsky.social #BlackHistory #slavery #authorinterview

TODAY at 1:30 PST/4:30 EST: I'll be LIVE on @positivetalkradio.bsky.social . Tune in at www.youtube.com/live/Uzwov5L... to hear me talk about how we can access voices from the past--and how YOU can preserve your family's history for future generations. #FreemansChallenge @uchicagopress.bsky.social

Annemarie Petri, contemporary award-winning Dutch printmaker, known for her steampunk cityscapes #WomensArt

Apatite' linocut by contemporary UK printmaker Richenda Court #WomensArt

Mariann Johansen-Ellis, contemporary printmaker #ReframingWomenPrintmakers

Today in the Bernstein Bean Experience: I made flageolet beans for the first time. I didn't know if they would retain their lovely green color when cooked. They did keep some of it! Left: raw beans; right: cooked. #beans #letsoglebeans

Peter (A Young English Girl), 1924 by Romaine Brooks, portrait of fellow artist known as Gluck #WomensArt

U.S artist printmaker Delita Martin's current work deals with reconstructing the identity of Black women by piecing together signs, symbols, and language #WomensArt

"Hair String" by Judy Napangardi Watson (1925 - 2016) senior Indigenous Australian artist from the Yuendumu community in the Northern Territory #womensart

This is 100% true.

Also this.

Viera Bombová (born 1932), award winning Slovak illustrator #WomensArt

"If we tell the history of convict leasing beginning with the South, the Civil War, and the Thirteenth Amendment, we're starting the story in the middle." "[W]e're letting the North off the hook." "My broadest goal in Freeman's Challenge was to put the North back on the hook." #USA #Incarceration

How long has the US had for-profit prisons and unpaid prison labor? @robinmbernstein.bsky.social tells the story of how, **in the 1840s**, William Freeman, a Black man incarcerated in NY, sought back wages for his prison labor. Read about this lost chapter of history: inquest.org/the-prof...

🤯

@uchicagopress.bsky.social bsky.app/profile/robi...

TODAY: Nicole Fleetwood and I are in dialogue about profit-driven incarceration, #prison labor, the art and intellectual work of incarcerated people, and of course William Freeman. Thanks to @inquest.bsky.social & @adammcgee.bsky.social for so much incisive critique of the #prisonindustrialcomplex.

I'm immensely grateful for this review of #FreemansChallenge. "Written in an accessible narrative style that recalls the blockbuster narrative histories of David Grann... Freeman's Challenge advances an abolitionist understanding of the prison industrial complex." Thank you, @nfesette.bsky.social!

Many congratulations to Robin Bernstein, author of FREEMAN'S CHALLENGE: THE MURDER THAT SHOOK AMERICA'S ORIGINAL PRISON FOR PROFIT, the 2025 PROSE Award winner for North American/US History! Find out more about the award-winning book here: buff.ly/S9IUWX8

Many thanks to @maahstonebookaward.bsky.social for celebrating every submission for this award. I wish every book prize committee did this! There are so many wonderful books to read in #AfricanAmericanStudies. #MAAHStoneAtoZ

OK, on a day when nothing seems funny, this made me laugh.

This is such a beautiful way to recognize new work in African American studies. Keep an eye out tomorrow for my book, Freeman's Challenge: The Murder That Shook America's Original Prison for Profit. #maahstoneatoz @maahstonebookaward.bsky.social

Eight! Well done, goose parents.

Here's a long thread on an issue dear to my heart. This Tuesday evening I’m doing an Intellectual Publics with Macarena Gomez-Barris on publishing. Like last year’s conversation with Denise Cruz, or the prior year’s with Racquel Gates, we will talk about how to find a publisher, turn a thesis... 1/