Sarah Lewis on “Aesthetic Force” as a Path Toward Justice

In her new book, The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America (Harvard University Press), the historian and Harvard professor Sarah Lewis unpacks a major part of United States history that until now wasn’t just brushed over, but was intentionally buried: how the ​​Caucasian War and the end of the Civil War were conflated by P.T. Barnum, former President Woodrow Wilson, and others to shape how we see race in America. Long overdue, The Unseen Truth is a watershed book about photography and visuality that calls to mind works by history-shaping authors such as James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and bell hooks. Lewis is also the founder of the Vision & Justice initiative, which strives to educate the public about the importance of art and culture for equity and justice in the U.S., and is launching a new publishing venture with Aperture this fall.

On the episode, she discusses the tension between pedagogy and propaganda; the deep influence of Frederick Douglass’s 1861 “Pictures and Progress” lecture on her work; how a near-death car crash altered the course of her life and The Unseen Truth; and the special ability of certain photographs to stop time.

Special thanks to our Season 10 presenting sponsor, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts.

Show notes:

Sarah Lewis

[04:01] The Unseen Truth

[05:24] Woodrow Wilson

[05:24] Frederick Douglass

[05:24] P.T. Barnum

[06:51] Toni Morrison

[06:51] Angela Davis

[06:51] Mathew Brady

[51:14] Vision & Justice

[11:35] Caucasus

[14:02] Imam Shamil

[17:38] Caucasian War

[19:31] MFA Boston

[19:31] The Metropolitan Museum

[22:30] “Pictures and Progress”

[28:41] “A Circassian”

[28:41] “Slave Ship”

[28:41] “The Gulf Stream”

[35:13] Frances Benjamin Johnston

[39:20] Jarvis Givens

[39:20] Fugitive Pedagogy

[44:05] The Rise: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search of Mastery

[49:08] Montserrat

[49:08] Under the Volcano

[51:36] Aperture

[52:26] Maurice Berger