I was complaining about the heat the other day and my father reminded me of how hot it was working in the tobacco barns on the farm. He recalled that before the tobacco was flue-cured, someone had to be in the barn at night to tend the fire. And this was in the days before most people had air-conditioning to retreat to in their homes. The average rate of pay in the 1950s, for tobacco workers wouldn’t even get people out of the house today. Those who worked in the barns made $4/day, while field workers (croppers) made $5/day.
This photo dates to 2013.
This is an excellent specimen.
Love the photo. There are three well-kept green-wood tobacco barns on
the way to Live Oak, FL.
One of my childhood memories is seeing tobacco stacked neatly on long
trailers at the market in Memphis, Tenn. Many African-American men
sitting or standing nearby. I was in kindergarten.
I went to work in a large cement block warehouse the summer I turned 16, in 1967, working to save money to pay for college expenses in the ’70’s. There was no AC back then, only large truck bay doors on both sides of the building, and one large window fan in a back corner where shelf goods were stored, nowhere near the truck bay doors.
One day, a couple of summers later, the General Manager came walking though, and I had to ask him: “Mr. S., when are y’all going to put air conditioning out here? It’s awfully hot!”
His response: “By golly, boy, you come back in January, you’ll get plenty of air conditioning!”
He was right… I was there one January, during a Christmas break in college, and it was well air-conditioned then!
“Those were the Days that Were!” (LOL) I was happy when I later had a summer job inside the air-conditioned office.