Tobacco bag stringing: Secondary activity three

In this activity for grades 7–12, students will evaluate primary source photographs from the Tobacco Bag Stringing collection.

A lesson plan for grades 8 and 10–12 Social Studies

By Pauline S. Johnson

Learn more

• Secondary source: About tobacco bag stringing This article introduces the concept of tobacco bag stringing and discusses its importance as a source of income for women in North Carolina and Virginia during the Great Depression.
• Primary source: Tobacco bag stringing: Life and labor in the Depression Images and text from a report in the North Carolina Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill documenting tobacco bag stringing work in North Carolina and Virginia in 1939.

Related pages

• "Magic Eye" lesson plan: This is one of a series of activities that will help educators use the Tobacco Bag Stringing project...
• Impact of the Great Depression oral history: The recording Play the Impact of the Great Depression oral history excerpt. Running time: 1 minute 32...
• Teacher's guide: Impact of the Great Depression: Introductory script Now that you’ve made predictions about how Stan Hyatt’s grandmother, we are going...

Related topics

• Learn more about Great Depression, North Carolina, inference, and photographs.

Legal

This is one of a series of activities that will help educators use the Tobacco Bag Stringing project materials in their classrooms. Throughout the series students will learn about tobacco stringing, study primary source documents and visuals, and practice critical thinking and analysis skills.

This activity should be done after activity one, which is the introductory activity about tobacco bag stringing.

Learning outcomes

• Students will examine and evaluate primary source photographs.
• Students will experience historical empathy as they examine the lives of tobacco bag stringers.

Teacher planning

Materials needed

• Copies of the three photographs: Mrs. Daisy Stamper, Mrs. B.F. Stayley, and Mrs. Samuel Stayley. (Photos appear at the bottom of this page.) Have enough copies that each pair of students will have one photograph. If possible, make copies of these pictures on photo paper of at least 4 X 6.
• National Archives and Records Administration photograph analysis sheet for each pair.

Time required for lesson

30 minutes

Procedure

1. Put the students in pairs.
2. Give each pair of students one of the three photographs.
3. Hand out a copy of the NARA photograph analysis sheet to each pair.
4. Students will study the photograph to find clues about the way of life for these tobacco bag stringers from North Carolina. Ask the students to do the following:
• Fill in the photograph analysis sheet paying special attention to the objects in the photographs. Students should divide the photograph into quadrants to better examine the background of the image.
• Students should make inferences about what the objects tell them of life in the Depression for the tobacco bag stringers.
5. As a class, students will share their assessments of the lives of these people.

Assessment

Assess by completed photo analysis sheets and discussion.

Photographs

Click on each photo for a larger version.

Mrs. Daisy Stamper. Photograph from North Carolina Collection, UNC Libraries.

Mrs. B.F. Stayley. Photograph from North Carolina Collection, UNC Libraries.

Mrs. Samuel Stayley. Photograph from North Carolina Collection, UNC Libraries.