Esteemed American Revolution Scholar to Deliver Christen Lecture at Manhattan College

Carol Berkin, Presidential Professor of History emerita at Baruch College & The Graduate Center, City University of New York, will deliver the annual Robert J. Christen Lecture at Manhattan College on April 8. The topic of the lecture is “Women and the American Revolution.”

The lecture will be held at 4 p.m. in Smith Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

According to Berkin, an esteemed scholar of American colonial and revolutionary history, women played a major role in every aspect of the struggle for — and against — independence, as propagandists, spies, saboteurs, soldiers and army nurses. They also managed farms and tended to shops. Their role in the Revolution forever changed the gender ideology in America, winning them recognition as rational and moral individuals who could be entrusted, for the first time, with the social and political education of their children.

Berkin is the author of several books including First Generations: Women in Colonial America; A brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution; and Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America’s Independence. She is a frequent contributor to PBS and History Channel documentaries on colonial history including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton and the Academy Award-nominated Scottsboro Boys. She serves on the boards of several professorial organizations including The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and the National Council for History Education.

Founded in 1986, the Robert J. Christen Program in Early American History and Culture honors the late Christen, a longtime Manhattan College history professor who later served as director of the New York State School Boards Association. He was one of the founders of the Pacem in Terris Institute of Manhattan College, developed during a time of war to advance the study of peace. Public School 081 Robert J. Christen in Riverdale has since adopted his name.  

For more information about the Christen Lecture contact George Kirsch, Ph.D., professor of history, at 718-862-7127 or george.kirsch@manhattan.edu.

Media interested in attending should contact John Tucker at 718-862-7232 or john.tucker@manhattan.edu.