Gene Dattel talked about his book Cotton and Race in the Making of America: The Human Costs of Economic Power (Ivan R. Dee, Publisher; September 25, 2009). Gene Dattel, who worked at Morgan Stanley and Salomon Brothers, presents a social and economic history of the role of cotton in the United States. The greatest export crop of the country for 130 years, its cultivation fed the textile industry and allowed the U.S. to broker independent trade with Europe. However, the production of cotton was also marked by slave labor and the author recounts that the prevalence of slavery was linked to where cotton was often grown. He was joined in discussion by civil rights activists Carver Randle and Lee Daniels.
This event was held November 11, 2009, at 5:30 p.m. CT at the B.B. King Museum in Indianola, Mississippi.