Work-in-Progress talk with Jessica M. Johnson, PhD candidate, History of Art and Architecture, and 2025–26 OHC Dissertation Fellow

During the Georgian era, a period noted for the transatlantic slave trade and the development of racial theory, an individual’s class could outweigh their race. My dissertation considers the utilization of portraiture by wealthy and influential Blacks to self-fashion and communicate their elevated status within a predominately white society enriched through colonialism and Black enslavement. Through portraiture, I investigate the intersection of race and class within Georgian Britain as well as the formation and complexities of Black diasporic identity within the ruling center of the British Empire.