cotton

In Texas, a white foreman stopped Alvarado and his group from picking in cotton fields just before a plane covered the crop with DDT.

“All I can think about is chafing. That’s literally the first thing that comes to mind,” said Michaels, who prefers cotton sweats and doesn’t recommend working out in jeans.

Five minutes later, the cotton clothes are shrinking in high heat and the rice is burning on the stovetop.

That year, the first industrial mill, Slater Mill, opened in Rhode Island to process that cotton into fabric.

Memphis, the seat of Shelby County, was once a prosperous city when it was at the heart of the American cotton industry up through the mid-20th century.