Tobacco bag stringing: Life and labor in the Depression · North Carolina Collection

2. The workers4

Mrs. Leacey Royal

woman and three children standing on porch in front of house

(More about the photograph)

MRS. LEACEY ROYAL, aged 27, married and has 4 children. Husband is 29. They reside in Reddies River, N.C.

INCOME: Husband works on P.W.A. sixteen days a month and gets $24. They have no other income.

EXPENSES: They use everything they make for food. Taxes are $2.

HOME CONDITIONS: House has 2 rooms and there are 35 acres of land. He owns a cow and 2 steers. The house is like all the rest in this section. They own a sewing machine and a new stove. She has been stringing bags for about 5 years and makes about $7.50 a month. This work sometimes hurts her eyes but she likes to make this money which she needs very much.

Source: “Tobacco Bag Stringing Operations in North Carolina and Virginia.” Richmond, Va.: 1939. North Carolina Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.