Skilled Negro workers like
Bonnie Hawthorne of Rich
mond, Vo., who became special
ists in the curing and processing
of tobacco were employed in
America’s first tobacco factory
operated by P. Lorillard Com
pany in VGFj. The makers of
Old Gold cigarettes reveal these
facts in “Brown Skin and
Bright Leaf” the story of the
Negro's role in the tobacco in
dustry. *
BROWN SKIN AND
BRIGHT LEAF
The Story Of The lSegro*8 Role In The
Tobacco industry
Chapter III—Fields Of Gold
Where once a back-weary
Negro father was traded into
slavery for seventy-five pounds
of fragrant tobacco, today his
descendants trade tobacco for
debt-free farms for education
for their children for the mo
dem appliances which make
'life easier...for the financial In-
dependence u>fvich. leads to a re
spected position in the commu
nity.
' A large portion of today’s
million Negro farmers look to
tobacco for their livelihood. In
the tobaccoland regions of
Maryland, Virginia, and North
and South Carolina, tobacco is
t^ie principal source of cash in
come for Negro farmers. In
many farm areas like the coun
ty surrounding Rockingham,
North Carolina, ninety-two per
cent,of the c^sh income of Ne
gro laYmers is derived from to
bacco.
Tobacco growing is an ar
duous—yet particularly rewar
ding—chore. The cultivation of
“Nicotiana Tobacum” is a con
stant battle with Nature. Long
damp periods as well as- unsco-
sonably dry weather spells ruin
to the grower who can sell only
top-grade tobacco to fastidious
companies like world^-famous P.
Lorillard Company. And no
other agricultural crop requires
so much hard, back-bending la
bor and tedious hand cultiva
tion. Elarly in April the stiallow
seedbeds are planted and cover
ed with cheese-cloth for protec-
against a possible late frost.
During May, the tiny plants
must be set out by hand in wide
rows three and a half feet apart.
By midsummer, after weeks of
dawn to dust labor at spraying
and hoeing and picking, the
plants have grown to three or
four feet in height and the far
mer begins his “topping”—cut
ting the plants to prevent them
from going to seed. Then comes
the “suckers”—new sprouts"—
which the farmer must pull or
kill with special chemicals. This
occurs in the hot days of mid-
sunruner, which ar^ followed by
anxious, watchful months when
the crap may be threatened by
storm, drought, insects or Dis
ease.
After all this effort comes the
harvest, the laborious curing
process and the suspense of
whether the crop will bring
good prices at the auction.
But Negro fapmers ^v»
gamled on the capricious re
wards of tobacco—and won.
Skilled in the tradition of the
fields cultivated by his fore
fathers, the Negro farmer is
responsible for the most inspir
ing success story ever to come
out of the south—the story of
the sharecropper who has be
come a successful, independent
tobacco farmer. And, Uiough
the discriminatory laws of the
eighteenth century in Virginia
restricted each Negro farmer to
six acres of tobacco, today in
dependent Negro farmers har
vest prosperous yields from un
limited acreage of bright leaf.
An exciting example is the
story of a $30,000-a-year
CUarksville, Tenn. farming
family. This Negro farmer ahd
his wife climbed from share-
cropping in 1938 to the owner
ship of a 531-acre farm valued
at $70,000. In a recent year the
family produced 18,000 pounds
of burley tobacco on their 13-
acre tobacco allotment, which
brought them a market price of
$7,000. Scientific farming me
thods—“feeding” the soil with
chemicals and fertilizer—are
the key to this farmer’s success.
And they have achieved their
main ambition—500 fruitful
acres, so that each of their five
children may someday have a
100-acre legacy.
Another successful Negro far
mer in Jones County, N. C., has
developed several new methods
to increase the quality of his to
bacco to a $1,000 yield per acre.
Careful cultivation and modern
methods of pest control have
improved his crop to a point at
which neighboring white far
mers now ask iiim for instruc
tion in “how to grow tobacco.”
There is a light shift of young
people, particularly veterans of
the last two wars, from the
farm to the city. But most of To-,
i^xwjland’s sepia sons
daughters are remaining with
the “bright leaf” that nutured
their forebearers. One veteran
who preferred to stay “down on
Calvert
H E S E RVE
V $040 $0^
mm 4/5 quart
Calv«rt Distillers Company
NEW YORK CITY
ILINDID WHISKtY «6.8 PROOF, 65% CRAIN NEUTRAL SPIRITS
the farm” U a'’'Clarksville, Va.,
tobacco farmer. i
A partially disabled veteran
of World War II, he haa brought
the scientific knowledge he
gained in his studies of agricul
ture under the GI Bill to'bear
on His 14 acres ^ olf tobacco...
which have provided him with
the funds to build a modern
home and open a feed-grinding
mill.
With autum comes the har
vesting of the ripened tobacco
crop. The harvest is a neighbor
hood affair, and in Maryland’s
lush tobacco region at harvest
time, a Negro farmer’s wife can
be seen helping her husband
“prime” and tie thf leaves to
gether. This particiuar lady, an
attractive brown-skinned wo
man, her face reflecting the
healthy Joys of watching the
crop develop, is representative
of the many husbands. She, too,
knows the sweat and toil, the
risks and dangers attendant
upon the growing of tobacco.
Bright tobacco is picked leaf
by leaf as it ripens. The far
mers call this “priming”—a te
dious task, since five or six
priming the leaves are tied to
gether in bundles called
“hands,” stnmg on poles, and
racked up tier on tier in a cur
ing barn—either the ventilated,
air-curing type of barn or the
tightly sealed, fired flue-curing
bam. When, after the tobacco
has been carefully cured to a
bright golden color, it must be
graded according to color, tex
ture and aroma, all the farmer’s
skill and knowledge are
brought into play.
Next comes the thrilling, sus
penseful tobacco auction—a
scene of pride for Negro far
mers because their product is
judged only for the qualities
that make fine tobacco—not ac
cording to the race of its grow
ers. Tobacco with a rich, golden
color, a firm texture, and a
pleasant aroma brings the high
est prices because it can enter
into the superb blend of a fine
cigarette like Old Gold or Kent.
As the auctioneer with his rapid
chant of “Sixty-eight, eight,
eight, sixty-nine” moves down
the long rows of tobacco-filled
baskets in the auction rooms,
the Negro farmer will leam the
ultimate result of his efforts.
But whether the crop has
brought good or bad prices, he
will return to his farm and
work twice as hard to improve
It next year—^because tobacco
growing is the best route he
knows to security and good liv
ing.
Editor's Note: Next-*- Week,
Chapter IV, Education For To-
i. I Browne
Resigns Positioir
With Association
The Rev. E. T- Brown, pas
tor of the Mount Vernon Baptist
Church, has tendered his resig
nation both as chairman and
member of the Executive Board
of the New Hope Missionary
Baptist Association.
In a letter to the moderator,
the Rev. James Stewart, the
Rev. Mr. Browne states that he
will continue as a loyal sup
porter of the Association and
requests that his resignation be
considered effective as of the
date of letter.
The Letter:
Rev. James Stewart
404 Lawson Street
Durham, North Carolina
Dear Brother Stewart:
I take this means of resigning
from the Office of Chairman of
the Executive Board, and from
Membership of the Executive
Board of the New Hope Mis
sionary Baptist Association, as
of the above date.
I shall continue my active
support of the Association and
shall pray for. you and the
work.
Very sincerely yours,
E. T. Browne, Pastor
Mt. Vernon Baptist Church
Durham, North Carolina
SATURDAY, MABCfl !♦, HS5 TH« CiUtOLIWA
rjumwKwwK
morrow which reveals The Ne
gro colleges where research in
tobacco cultivation is a major
program; the Negro extension
agents of the U.S. Department
of agriculture and their role; a
day in the life of a typical
agent; the youthful members of
The New Farmers of America.
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Capital Close-Up
(Continued from Page Two)
Gene’* better half, U currently
nmning a public service pro
gram “Our Other Brother,”
over Station WOOK, on Satur
day’s at 0 p.m. Edmonia, an
alumna of Howard, Fisk, Rosen-
wald Fellow and National “Y”
program secretary, did field
work on Myrdal’s “American
Dilenuna” with Arthur Raper,
Ralph Bunche, and others, and
is widely known, sociologically
and socially. Her program aims
to promote international under
standing through interviews
with guests from abroad. More
on this, later.
Goodbye Herb and Anna Hene-
gan
Press Clubbers and their
friends said goodbye to Herb
and Anna Smith Henegan at a
party, last week, at the Tropi
cal Room of the New Dunbar
Hotel. This week the two are
flying to New Delhi, where
Herb will be on the “info” staff
of USIS. The^Capital Press Club
observed Newspaper Week with
a symposium on the Negro
Press and Integration. Panelists
were Hugo Warren of the Cou
rier, Lois Taylor of the Afro,
and Ethel Payne of the Chicago
Defender.
Louise Bwvers S«es Friend
Nixon
Vice-President Ntacon, back
from aerious and succesaful
good-willing in the Caribbean,
▼•n, hen wttb Mac Wot, la
riated on »wlni{ bn—bad bto
picture made with tlM fUm star
who backed him wb«i he warn a
"truggUng ymmg poUtide In
Callfomia.
SeHEMrs
4^8 err.
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