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As Britain, France, and the United States moved to abolish slavery, unscrupulous ship captains and labor traders from these very nations removed hundreds of thousands Pacific Islanders and Asian people from their homelands. This practice, known as blackbirding, peaked during the second half of the 19th century and involved trading people to places such as Australia, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, and even Peru, where they worked under conditions that sometimes closely resembled slavery.

While the history of blackbirding is relatively well known, less attention has been given to the visual and material culture that bears witness to the journeys and lived experiences of these indentured workers. Yet, as the growing scholarship on the material culture of transatlantic slavery has shown, such artifacts can deepen our understanding of the lives of those who left little written records and open new ways of connecting people, objects, and places across time and space.

This panel invites papers that contribute to the writing of this history, whether through the study of archival records, historical objects, photographs, and built environments, or through the lens of contemporary artists whose work engages with the history of blackbirding. In doing so, this panel aims to expand the historical record and bring renewed attention to the cultural, visual, and material legacies of those whose lives were shaped by these coercive practices.