Here is Jennifer Graber’s response to the student comments on her work that considered antebellum prisons and how to teach antebellum America.

Similar to Matt’s response, I’m interested that students picked up on something – the connection to slavery – that was not the focus on my book. I find this instructive in terms of how we might organize our courses in ways that focus both on the big themes students know something about (slavery) and the connecting strands (life criminal punishment) that are so often overlooked. It could be interesting to ask scholars in the field as well as students at the end of a course what pairings they would create. Let me suggest one to get the juices flowing: late nineteenth century urbanization and Indian reservations. Thank you for your comments!