Books by Shawn Michelle Smith

Engaging contemporary photography by Sally Mann, Lorna Simpson, Carrie Mae Weems, and others, Shawn Michelle Smith traces how historical moments come to be known photographically and the ways in which the past continues to inhabit, punctuate, and transform the present through the photographic medium.

Shawn Michelle Smith examines how the advent of photography revolutionized perception, making what was once invisible visible, while also revealing the limitations of what can be seen.

Visual texts demonstrate the contested terms of American identity. This book offers an account of how photography and the sciences of biological racialism joined forces in the nineteenth century to offer an idea of what Americans look like - or 'should' look like.

An exploration of the visual meaning of the color line and racial politics through the analysis of archival photographs collected by W.E.B. Du Bois and exhibited at the Paris Exposition of 1900