Venus in the Dark: Blackness and Beauty in Popular Culture

In this third edition of the classic cultural history of black women’s beauty, Venus in the Dark: Blackness and Beauty in Popular Culture, Janell Hobson explores the enduring figure of the “Hottentot Venus” and the history of critical and artistic responses to her by black women in contemporary photography, film, literature, music, and dance.

In 1810, Sara Baartman was taken from South Africa to Europe, where she was put on display at circuses, salons, museums, and universities as the “Hotte...