We are Black female tobacco stemmers
Posing in front of the American Tobacco Company Richmond Stemmery

Sat right there at that table
De-stemming tobacco leaves by hand

Sort
We grabbed and untied a handful of tobacco leaves

Clean
Spread them flat

Stem
Pull the stem away

White female workers had cleaner jobs
They inspected and packed the tobacco
While we sorted, cleaned, and stemmed

That pungent smell of tobacco leaves
Clouds of tobacco dust coated the air
And our lungs

Made us cough
Choke
Difficult to breathe
We wore kerchiefs over our mouths and noses
And placed orange in our mouth to keep us from throwing up

Our bosses ruled with an iron fist
“If you don’t catch up, you will be fired”
Without any increase in our meager pay of 15–25 cents an hour

August 1938
Over at Richmond’s I.N. Vaughan Export
Louise Harris*
A stemmer herself
Organizes sixty Black female fellow workers
Over the noise of the factory she defiantly shouts
“Strike!”
White women also walked the picket lines in support of striking tobacco workers
After 17 days on strike
factory owner conceded
They won a wage increase, an eight-hour workday and the right to unionize

Like her
We don’t back down
We fight back!