Working In Tobacco — A Positive Experience

September 26th, 2007 | webmaster | Memory Lane

By Joyce Walters

If you have ever worked on a tobacco farm, you will understand what I’m talking about when I say “a positive experience.” Even before this country was colonized, tobacco has
been grown. Working on the family farm has given many young people opportunities to aid their families in producing crops while earning money to buy their school clothes or other
things which their families couldn’t afford.

Many children in the Bladenboro area started working in tobacco when they were quite young. I’m sure there must have been labor laws at that time but nobody enforced them—so it
wasn’t unusual for a child of eight or ten years old to start “handing” tobacco when they had to stand on a drink crate to be tall enough. As they became taller and older they would most
likely become “stringers” or “croppers”. After all, the planting and harvesting of the tobacco was a family affair and neighbors helped neighbors, especially with the barning of the tobacco.

In the 1950’s and early ‘60’s, the pay scale was $4.00 a day for barn help and $5.00 a day for croppers. In today’s world the pay seems quite meager, but we must remember that in
those days a dress or pants and shirt and a pair of shoes could be bought for $10.00 or less.

But along with the pay there were other perks, like all the watermelon you could eat and a good meal at noon (corn, butterbeans, peas, fried chicken, rice and gravy, peach cobbler
and biscuits) all prepared by the mother of the household.

After the meal, the adults would rest awhile, but the children weren’t tired so they played games, had a foot race, or built tobacco stick houses (some quite elaborate). Fights would
sometimes erupt when the boys would start throwing green tobacco stems at each other and somebody was hit beside the head. When it was time to go back to work, all that was forgotten and everyone got down to the business at hand.

When all the tobacco was harvested and sold, many young workers were treated with a trip to “M” Nances for a hamburger or a barbeque sandwich, or to White Lake to swim for
the afternoon.

I’ve known and worked with many young folks on a tobacco farm who have gone on to achieve great success in their lives. It was on the farm that they learned the good and bad
times in life. Indeed it has been “a most positive experience” for me!

Today it is politically incorrect to grow, smoke, dip, chew or spit tobacco. Things have changed greatly. Mechanization ahs become a necessity for growing tobacco. The jobs that
helped so many are no longer available. For those of you who grew up in this era, I hope you remember with fondness the many hours spent under the old tobacco barn shelter.