Black Meme

Praise

“A riveting history of the images that have made and maimed Black people in an omnivorous white culture, one that stretches across centuries and technologies, from street to cyberspace; from the violence we suffer to the virtuosity we invent. You will be galvanized by Legacy Russell’s analytic brilliance and visceral eloquence.”
—Margo Jefferson, author of Constructing a Nervous System

“Unsettles, expands and deepens our understanding of the black meme. At the center of this book is work. How black bodies, divorced from context and circulating, are made to do all kinds of cultural work in perpetuity. Throughout, Russell stays with black/ness as viral material, encourages us to consider memes with “slowness,” and wonders what might intervene in and end this perpetual labor. Black Meme is necessary reading; brilliant and utterly convincing”
—Christina Sharpe, author of Ordinary Notes

“What is a meme? Legacy Russell’s provocative answer takes readers on an unexpected journey that loops back to the early twentieth century, then propels us forward to see our hyper-digitized twenty-first century through new eyes. Mapping the trajectory of pivotal conjunctures in the history of digital media and visual culture, her incisive insights and compelling prose show us that Black virality is fundamentally constitutive of the internet, as well as the ongoing predicament of Black life past, present and future.”
—Tina Campt, author of Listening to Images

“[An] innovative analysis…in addition to constructing a persuasive case that digital culture steals from Black culture even as it looks down on Black people, Russell takes care to highlight positive media depictions of Blackness.”
—Publishers Weekly

“An expert deconstruction of how Blackness has been presented in culture from the beginning of the twentieth century until the present day.”
—Jessica White, i-D

“Legacy Russell’s Black Meme is a truly critical offering for the digital age in America’s racial democracy.”
—Sarah Lewis, founder of Vision and Justice, and the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities and Associate Professor of African and African American Studies, Harvard University

“I can’t wait to get my hands on Russell’s history of Black visual culture, from early 1900s photographs to today’s memes.”
—Quinci LeGardye, The 20 Most Anticipated Books of 2024, Marie Claire

“Russell’s Black Meme is a history of dispossession and cultural production that have molded our evolving media landscape.”
—Shanti Escalante de Mattei, Art in America

“Russell teases out how Black life and Black death shaped viral culture even before the birth of the internet.”
—23 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in 2024, Vulture

“Russell’s Black Meme is a keen study of resistance, and there’s no more exciting mind to tackle a potent array of topics: Paris Is Burning, Rodney King, Trayvon Martin, Emmett Till, Cindy Sherman, Anita Hill, Magic Johnson, and so much more”
—Interview Magazine