Black Bodies, White Gold

Focusing on cotton's role in the slave trade and colonialism, the book explores the intertwined nature of art, commerce, and colonialism in the nineteenth-century Atlantic world. Anna Arabindan-Kesson emphasizes the significance of the Black diaspora in cultural production, tracing how artistic representations of cotton linked to the monetary value of Black bodies. She examines historical depictions of enslaved individuals and contemporary artists who challenge the legacies of these exploitative relationships, revealing how visuality shaped perceptions of Blackness and labor.