Tobacco Harvesting
These three images of hand harvesting tobacco show the various forms of energy used to collect the tobacco. The date range is from 1928 through the 1950s. Do you see a change over time in the photographs? Take into account who and what is doing the work.
This is a black and white photograph of a farmers controlling a mule drawn sled, in 1928. They are using draft power to harvest tobacco leaves.
1. When were these photographs taken?
2. What was happening in the photographs?
3. Who was in the photographs? What social groups did they belong to?
This is a black and white photograph of African-American farm laborers harvesting tobacco leaves in 1950. The laborers are men, women, and a child. Note also their reliance on draft power in the background of the photograph.
This is a black and white photograph of an African-American farm laborer hand harvesting tobacco leaves, circa 1950-1959.
4. Do you see any hints of change in the different time periods?
5. What were the roles of these workers on the farm? How do you think labor was organized on Southern farms?
6. Who or what was providing the energy for the harvest with each method of harvesting?
Watch the video "Yesterday and Today, Tobacco Harvesting" of a tobacco harvester being used in the early 1960s.
*This video has no sound.*
1. How can we account for this drastic change in one decade?
2. Why would farmers rather harvest tobacco with machines than by hand?
3. What obstacles do you think farmers faced in the adoption of mechanization?
4. What is the race and gender demographics of the farmers and the laborers?