Chapter 2. The workers

There were 147 tobacco bag stringers interviewed for the report sent to Representative Graham Barden were from North Carolina and Virginia. The twelve shown here are from North Carolina. Biographical notes chronicle personal information such as income, property, living conditions, and employment, while the black and white photographs capture the workers, their families, and their homes in a way that words cannot. These vignettes offer a glimpse into the life of people with few options during the Depression.