Full Campaign
This book publicity case study outlines Coriolis Company’s work for Robin Bernstein’s Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit, published by The University of Chicago Press on May 2, 2024. Freeman’s Challenge unveils a gripping, morally complex tale surrounding murder, greed, race, and the true origins of prison for profit, as presented by award-winning historian Robin Bernstein.
Events
April 16, 2024, Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder that Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit, in conversation with Kevin Quashie, hosted by the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA
May 3, 2024, Freeman’s Challenge, with Tao Leigh Goffe, hosted by P&T Knitwear Bookstore, New York, NY
May 5, 2024, Robin Bernstein — Freeman’s Challenge, in conversation with Marcia Chatelain, hosted by Politics & Prose Bookstore, Washington, DC
May 8, 2024, Live at Brookline Booksmith! Robin Bernstein with Koritha Mitchell: Freeman’s Challenge, in conversation with Koritha Mitchell, hosted by Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA
May 29, 2024, Book Event with Julius Fleming, hosted by Red Emma’s Bookstore, Baltimore, MD
May 17, 2024, Book Event with Brandon Terry, co-sponsored by the Hutchins Center Institute on Policing, Incarceration, and Public Safety, hosted by Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA
June 1, 2024, Alumnae/i Authors’ Celebration, hosted by Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA
June 2, 2024, Book Event with Lorrie Kim, hosted by A Novel Idea Bookstore, Philadelphia, PA
July 13, 2024, Book Talk with author Robin Bernstein, hosted by North Presbyterian Church and Talking Leaves Books, Williamsville, NY
July 17, 2024, Book Event hosted by New-York Historical Society and Bryant Park, Reading Room, New York, NY
September 11, 2024, The Seward Family and the Auburn State Prison, hosted by Seward House Museum, Auburn Public Theater, Auburn, NY
September 12, 2024, Discussion of Freeman’s Challenge with current prisoners, hosted by Auburn Correctional Facility, Auburn, NY
September 12, 2024, Book Talk, hosted by Buffalo Street Books, Ithaca, NY
September 14, 2024, Book Talk, hosted by Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
September 18, 2024, Book Talk with Caleb Gayle, hosted by Watertown Free Public Library, Watertown, MA
September 19, 2024, Robin Bernstein, Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit, with Nicole R. Fleetwood, hosted by The New York Society Library, New York, NY
November 1, 2024, Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit | A Conversation with Robin Bernstein and Nicole Gonzalez Van Cleve, with Marcia Chatelain, hosted by Politics & Prose Bookstore, Washington, DC
November 15, 2024, ASA book party!, hosted by Red Emma’s, Baltimore, MD
January 17, 2025, Bookworm #75 – Author Conversation with Robin Bernstein Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit, hosted by the William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, MI
March 6, 2025, Book Talk, hosted by Busboys and Poets, Washington, DC
February 19, 2025, Author Talk | Robin Bernstein – Freeman’s Challenge, with Lisa L. Biggs, hosted by the Boston Athenaeum, Boston, MA
April 23, 2025, Robin Bernstein in conversation with Ibram X. Kendi, Freeman’s Challenge, with Ibram X. Kendi, W. E. B. Du Bois Research Institute Colloquium Series, Cambridge, MA
April 26, 2025, Mass Center for the Book Presents Prisons for Profit: Racism and the History of Incarceration in the North, moderated by Toussaint Losier, hosted by the Newburyport Literary Festival, Boston, MA
Interviews
March 9, 2024, “How Carceral Slavery Began,” Against the Grain (KPFA)
April 30, 2024, “The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit,” History Hack
May 2, 2024, “232: Robin Bernstein: The New York Prison that Started the For-Profit Prison System,” Public Defenseless
June 12, 2024, “Robin Bernstein Joins Tavis Smiley,” The Tavis Smiley Show (KBLA)
June 12, 2024, “How the North Invented For-Profit Prison Labor with Robin Bernstein,” A Public Affair (WORT)
June 16, 2024, “William Freeman and America’s First Profit-Driven Prisons,” Explaining History
June 22, 2024, “Freeman’s Challenge with Dr. Robin Bernstein,” Civics and Coffee
June 24, 2024, “The Auburn Prison System & the Case of William Freeman,” Unsung History
June 28, 2024, “America’s Prisons Are Slave Labor Factories,” Scheer Intelligence (KCRW)
June 28, 2024, “Freeman’s Challenge – Interview with Dr. Robin Bernstein,” The Rob Burgess Show
July 1, 2024, “A Conversation with Robin Bernstein,” That Said with Michael Zeldin
July 8, 2024, “America’s Original Prison for Profit,” Everyday Injustice Podcast
July 18, 2024, “Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit,” The Academic Life
July 22, 2024, “The Bronx Social Justice and Anti-Violence Forums with Daren Jaime,” BronxNet Television
July 24, 2024, “Dr. Robin Bernstein,” Wake Up with WURD
July 29, 2024, “Dr. Robin Bernstein Interview,” This Week in History
August 4, 2024, “Prison CORRUPTION Has Long DESTROYED America!,” Social Society w/ Brandon Clark
August 11, 2024, “Freeman’s Challenge,” Labor Jawn
August 12, 2024, “Robin Bernstein, US’s Original 4 Profit Prison,” Freedom Now (KPFK)
August 21, 2024, “How Private For-Profit Prisons are LEGAL Slavery,” The Conversation with Al McFarlane (KFAI)
August 23, 2024, “Racial Capitalism and For-Profit Prisons with Dr. Robin Bernstein,” Lean to the Left
August 23, 2024, “Robin Bernstein: Freeman’s Challenge,” New Books Network
September 6, 2024, “Challenging the legacy: An interview with historian Robin Bernstein on William Freeman and the roots of America’s prison system,” Epistle News
September 8, 2024, “Build Your Thought Leadership: Freeman’s Challenge Featuring Dr. Robin Bernstein,” A Moment with Erik Fleming
September 14, 2024, “Robin Bernstein interview,” The Toby Gribben Show (Shout Radio UK)
October 10, 2024, “The Prison for Profit System, ” Being Well Informed
October 17, 2024, “Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit,” The Rufus Williams Show
October 30, 2024, “S:6 E:49 | Freeman’s Challenge: Unveiling the Origins of Prison for Profit with Dr. Robin Bernstein,” The Books That Make You
November 2, 2024, “Robin Bernstein, PhD, author, cultural historian, and professor, on the entangled origins of ‘prisons for profit’ and anti-Black racism in America and beyond,” Urban Connections (KKFI)
November 5, 2024, “Episode 55: Robin Bernstein and the Disco Ball of Integrity,” Drafting the Past
November 21, 2024, “Keyword missing from CA’s proposed forced labor bill may have caused it to fail,” KNX News 97.1 FM
November 21, 2024, “It’s Immoral to Profit From Another’s Imprisonment,” First Things First (KBLA)
December 8, 2024, “Episode 2158: Robin Bernstein on the Marriage of American History, Race, and Prison,” Keen On
December 20, 2024, “Dr. Robin Bernstein, Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit,” CJ Knows!
January 9, 2025, “Freeman’s Challenge,” The San Francisco Experience
February 6, 2025, “Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit by Robin Bernstein and The KC Campaign to End Gender Violence in the Workplace,” Heartland Labor Forum (KKFI)
March 11, 2025, “William Freeman’s Shocking Revenge (1846) w/ Robin Bernstein (Part 1),” This Day
March 13, 2025, “What William Freeman’s Act Meant (1846),” This Day
July 4, 2025, “Uncovering America’s First For-Profit Prison: Robin Bernstein on Freeman’s Challenge,” Positive Talk Radio
July 7, 2025, “Interview with Robin Bernstein,” The Writing Community Chat Show
July 11, 2025, “Robin Bernstein – Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder that Shook America’s First Prison for Profit,” The WCCS Show
July 21, 2025, “Episode 219 – Interview with Dr. Robin Bernstein,” Writers Drinking Coffee
July 23, 2025, “Robin Bernstein – Departments of History and African and African American Studies, Harvard University,” Black Studies Podcast
July 28, 2025, “Freeman’s Challenge: The Untold Story of America’s First Prison-for-Profit – New York Black History 1840-1846,” Black History Buff
August 15, 2025, “Books Incoming! New University Press History Arrivals,” The History Shelf
August 19, 2025, “Episode 86 — Robin Bernstein: Freeman’s Challenge — The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit,” Curiosity Invited
Reviews
June 4, 2024, “Book Review: Freeman’s Challenge — Essential Reading about Prisons, Slavery, and Profit,” by Bill Littlefield, The Arts Fuse
June 6, 2024, “Goodreads,” Book Club of One
June 8, 2024, “Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit by Robin Bernstein Review,” Anthony Avina (also reviewed on Goodreads)
June 16, 2024, “Review: Freeman’s Challenge by Robin Bernstein,” Nichole Louise
July 7, 2024, “Book Review: Freeman’s Challenge – The Origins of Prison For Profit,” by Christian Starr, ThyBlackMan
July 24, 2024, “Review of Freeman’s Challenge,” by Jonah Raskin, New York Journal of Books
July 26, 2024, “Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit by Robin Bernstein (review),” by Brian Tanguay, California Review of Books
July 26, 2024, “Review: Freeman’s Challenge by Robin Bernstein,” Annie Windholz (Medium) (also reviewed on Goodreads)
October 27, 2024, “Book review: Freeman’s Challenge by Robin Bernstein,” by Eleanor J. Bader, NewPages
November 15, 2024, “Freeman’s Challenge,” Kirkus Reviews
January 17, 2025, “Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit,” by Philip Zozzaro, San Francisco Book Review
January 17, 2025, “Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit,” by Maria Yinks, Seattle Book Review
March 14, 2025, “Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison For Profit by Robin Bernstein (review),” by Lolo Serrano, Journal of the Early Republic
August 27, 2025, “Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison for Profit by Robin Bernstein (review),” by Meredith A. Bak, The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth
Op-Eds and Features
May 1, 2024, “Robin Bernstein’s Freeman’s Challenge,” The Page 99 Test
May 2, 2024, “Book Corner: New Book Examines History of Prison Industrial Complex,” Los Angeles Wave
July 19, 2024, “Discipline and Profit: The Origins of the Private Prison,” Truthdig
August 11, 2024, “‘They have got to pay’: Book finds prison critique in NY quadruple murder,” Democrat & Chronicle
June 12, 2025, “The Profit Motive,” Inquest
July 17, 2025, “Freeman’s Challenge: The Murder That Shook America’s Original Prison For Profit,” Labor History
Book Publicity Assets
Coriolis also provided 1,120 visual book marketing assets to be used in marketing the book, on Robin Bernstein’s website and her social media. These consisted of 950 graphics and 170 video assets.
*This post was last updated on September 9, 2025.
