The published work that I have researched is, “A Digital History Project hosted by the Lowcountry Digital Library at the College of Charleston” This Digital Project offers information on Charleston’s Cigar Factory Strike. This project is organized into 8 different sections that help to teach about the History of The Cigar Factory Strike.
In the “Introduction” we learn general information. The strike began on October 22, 1945. Members of the Food, Tobacco, Agricultural and Allied workers and COngress of Industrial Organizations (FTA-CIO) Local 15 at the Cigar Factory in Charleston, South Carolina, walked off their jobs in order to fight for a twenty-five cent pay raise and and end to racially discriminatory employment practices.
The second section, titled “Historical Background of Cigar Factory” teaches readers more specific details about the origination of the Factory. The text reads; “The Cigar Factory operated from 1903 to 1973 in a five-story brick Victorian building located at the intersections of East Bay, Columbus, and Blake Streets. The building functioned as a textile mill before American Tobacco Company executives leased the structure from Gainesville Mills in 1903, and finally purchased it in 1912.” We also learn that both, black and white women and men worked in the factory; these employees produced the United States’ biggest-selling five-cent Certified Cremo and ten-cent Roi-Tan cigars. This led to the factory’s nickname of “Cremo College”. In this section we are able to understand exactly how employees were being mistreated. “Managers segregated factory floors by race, and assembly lines by gender (Black and white women typically rolled cigars, inspected tobacco leaves, packed cigars into boxes, or applied labels to cigar boxes. Black men rolled cigars or loaded boxes of tobacco onto the factory floor. White men often worked in the highest paid factory positions as machinists, foremen, or oilers).”
The following three sections; “World War II and Labor Activism,” “Escalating Tensions Before the Strike” and “The Charleston Strike” all harp on the difficulties and challenges that employees that the union workers faced before finally being able to take action. Laws were in place during World War II that did not allow workers to strike until after the war. However there was much preparation that went into organizing the strike as Cigar Factory workers in cities such as Philadelphia and Trenton were also fighting for better working conditions. Union meetings were held that helped to demonstrate the unification of the employees. “On October 26, Local 15 held its first integrated meeting at the African American Morris Street Church. This gathering demonstrated that union leaders saw solidarity through black and white coalitions as a strategy for addressing the workers’ concerns.” Historically this was important not only for conditions in the workplace but for society as a whole.
While protesting, workers carried placards in front of the Cigar Factory on East Bay Street. Older workers sang hymns and spirituals. African American picketer Lucille Simmons, became known for rallying Charlestonians to support the Cigar Factory strike. She is remembered for her “rich and powerful voice”. Simmons changed the spiritual, “I Will Overcome One Day,” into “We Will Overcome.” Although the union workers were fighting for positive change and were protesting in peaceful ways, they faced constant harassment from segregationist and the local police. Despite these challenges, hundreds of protestors spent months picketing and boycotting American Tobacco Company products.
The final two sections “Gathering Support” and “Conclusion”, teach the outcome of the Charleston Cigar Strike. The text reads, “Building support from whites outside of the Cigar Factory was also important to the strikers. Korstad, along with his wife Frances Rodgers Korstad, helped champion progressive causes throughout the U.S. South in the 1940s and 1950s.” Laws were eventually passed that did help the workplace environment, workers were allowed a voice and received a mandatory five minute break both in the mornings and afternoons. In 1966, Charleston’s Cigar Factory laid off nine hundred workers. In 1973, the factory closed its doors this was caused by; the globalization of the tobacco industry, as well as the decline of tobacco use after a series of class actions forced the American Tobacco Company to place warning labels on tobacco products and limit advertising.
The Cigar Factory Strike marked a historic moment in civil rights struggles and labor activism in Charleston, South Carolina, and throughout the United States. On April 13, 2013, representatives from the Preservation Society of Charleston unveiled the Cigar Factory’s marker during a public ceremony.
I found this source to be incredibly educational as I have not yet studied the history of the Cigar Factory. I appreciate how this source puts emphasis on not only the history of the factory but the influence that the strike had on society and American history. I think that this is an important time in history to remember especially with the racial challenges that Charleston still faces today, although society has come such a long way since, it is refreshing to see people coming together to fight for their rights in such a positive and impactful way.
