"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
As the world gradually recovers from the Great Depression and the U.S. enters WWII, the tobacco industry in Petersburg, Virginia, explodes. The "Old South" architecture of the city boldly contrasts the gritty, soot-choked reality of its wartime tobacco factories. Saturated with segregated neighborhoods and workplaces, sustained by the church, and supplemented by bootleggers and a seething underworld., the socio-economic climate of the Negro community is clearly defined.
The impact of the war accelerates the demand for domestic industrial workers, particularly women, 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. But when faced with harsh conditions, low wages, and sexual intimidation, these women, these STEMMERS, take a monumental stand and forever change the U.S labor force. A obscure labor movement, known as The Richmond Tobacco Strikes, 1938-1941, sets the backdrop to this encapsulating story.