The story of North Carolina’s tobacco economy may often be overlooked by modernity, because the weight of this narrative is still predominantly felt by People of Color. North Carolina tobacco is an example of white wealth built on slavery, and later carried by free Black land owners who were paid pennies on the dollar for their crop. Like much of Black history, this past is often unknown unless you are one of the many marginalized people who call NC tobacco land home and still struggle to eke out an agricultural living. Whatever your cultural ancestry, if you are willing to listen, the story of tobacco can even be heard from an abandoned rail line.
This photograph was taken about a mile from a former tobacco warehouse. The warehouse, still in a state of disrepair, stores city emergency vehicles also in need of restoration. The tree left on the abandoned tracks is indicative of what was left behind and unable to be repurposed when the warehouse closed. It tells the story of an economic shift that allowed some to flourish and others to be used and forgotten.
Much of central and eastern NC was built on tobacco — Winston-Salem, Durham, The Duke family. The industry saw rapid decline in the late 1980s and 90s. Many of these names are now a prominent part of other iconic parts of NC. Local breweries, farm to table restaurants, Durham baseball, Duke University, and many other landmarks & institutions. Unless you are looking for it, or you find yourself lost on the edge of the right small town, you may never see the tobacco that still stretches for a hundred acres in some areas.
The economic and industrial shift took some time. Now, some parts of the region are unrecognizable as tobacco country. Most would agree that this shift has benefited the region. This is true in large part as the shift away from tobacco has led to healthier lives and greater biodiversity in the North Carolina Piedmont. However, this shift had a negative impact on the already poor and marginalized, many who were once farmers. These families continue to struggle as gentrification increases and as efforts increase to leave yesterday behind.
Some marginalized people still live with an image of the broken rail line that led away from a tobacco economy with no vision for the possibilities of tomorrow. When a long-awaited economic upturn finally happened after tobacco’s rapid decline, people of color were still systematically removed from the privilege afforded to the descendants of white land owners. The number of Black land owners who are now able to grow organic crops on ancestral land for some measure of profit is still significantly smaller than white farmers who purchased divided plots of former tobacco land. This story continues to remain hidden just like the now smaller tobacco farms that are unseen and unknown to the rapidly growing wealth centering on large corporations able to capitalize on organic food, the technology industry, and the university system. All of these things are of great value to a modern economy, but their value is still kept from many of the people whose labor created such wealth.
The untold or silenced stories of our lives speak a forgotten truth. This is a story of Black oppression and poverty rooted in the earth sown with tobacco seeds. It is a story that simultaneously connects and separates those divided by race and economics. “Those in power determine history’s memory.” The greatest power any of us has is to not allow truth to be silenced. Our voice carries the oral culture of our family and ancestors. Making public a forgotten story can build hope for an equality not yet realized whether the stories are brought to life in written, spoken, or visual mediums.
- North Carolina Tobacco Farmer (Unnamed). Interview. 2014. & “History,” City of Oxford, https://www.oxfordnc.org/community/history.php. accessed April 2019.
- Helmer, Jodi “Black farmers markets grow in North Carolina: Three Black farmers markets in Piedmont region provide new opportunities for farmers and customers.” (November 23, 2020): . Accessed February 22, 2021. https://carolinapublicpress.org/40078/black-farmers-markets-grow-in-north-carolina/
- Dr. Grant Wacker, American Christianity 756 Course Lecture. Duke Divinity School. Fall 2014.