"Stemming is the process of removing the central vein or stem from tobacco leaves before they are used in cigar production. This is performed by hand or by using a machine designed specifically for such an action."
-CIGAR AFICIANADO
Setting
The Great Depression is over, WWII is brewing, and the tobacco industry is booming in Petersburg, Virginia. Saturated with segregated neighborhoods and workplaces, sustained by the church, and supplemented by bootleggers and “good-time houses”, the socio-economic climate of the Negro community is clearly defined.
The impact of the war accelerates the demand for tobacco, shifting the Negro workforce. Bootleggers and laborers are becoming soldiers and Pullman porters. Negro women who were once maids are becoming skilled factory workers and relentless forces to be reckoned with in the white male-dominated world of tobacco. It is these women—these STEMMERS—who would break barriers and forever change the U.S. labor force.