Rust Cotton Picker Comes to the South 1936

"Rust Cotton Picker Comes to the South" is a 1936 linocut by American artist Shelby Shackelford. The print depicts a Black man holding cotton in his hands, with two white men operating a machine in the background. This powerful image is a social commentary on the mechanization of agriculture and the displacement of Black workers in the South during the Great Depression. Shackelford's stark black and white imagery creates a dramatic contrast between the human figure and the industrial machine, highlighting the anxieties surrounding automation and its impact on labor.