“Smoking cigarettes, much like the racial slavery that had originally made tobacco profitable, was regarded as sinful by a substantial minority of folks, even though the entire economy rested upon it.” (13).
This quote was used by Tyson to describe how people in Oxford at the time thought about tobacco and smoking cigarettes. In linking together smoking and slavery in such a way, Tyson highlighted two extremely significant aspects of North Carolina’s history: the tobacco industry and slavery. Though Slavery was (for the most part) used as a means to harvest cotton in the South, in Chesapeake and North Carolina it was used primarily for tobacco harvest and production. When tobacco demand boomed during the 18th century, the amount of slaves in Chesapeake and North Carolina increased tenfold. If it were not for this massive increase in the importation of slaves, tobacco would never have become profitable in the first place, as Tyson illustrated in this quote. By doing so, Tyson showed how slavery, in the same way as tobacco, hugely benefitted his town monetarily even with its toxic and addictive nature.
In this way, Tyson equalized tobacco and racial slavery conceptually and continued to use this theme throughout the book. For example, in 1887, when black men in Oxford took up arms in an attempt to prevent the lynching of Albert Taborn, Tyson described how, "when it became clear the local authorities remained determined to see Taborn hanged, someone torched the tobacco warehouses downtown." (14) Here the burning of the tobacco warehouses can be seen as a symbol for the ending or destruction of black compliance and insubordination in Oxford.
Another interesting example of this parallel occurred later on in the book, when Tyson was recounting his father's experience of first moving into Oxford. "Daddy could literally inhale Oxford's history as he rolled into town that afternoon. The world's finest cigarette tobacco filled his nostrils as he passed the wooden warehouses stacked with brightleaf gold." (87) This quote is significant because of Tyson's implication that Oxford's history is equivalent to the scent of the tobacco. Rather than interpreting this quote literally, the reader can see this statement as Tyson's way to show how the industrialization and production of tobacco set the foundation of the town's history. Knowing that the profitability of tobacco relied heavily on the cheap labor of imported slaves, Tyson illustrates pointedly to the reader that the town's history is that of racial slavery.
In this way, Tyson equalized tobacco and racial slavery conceptually and continued to use this theme throughout the book. For example, in 1887, when black men in Oxford took up arms in an attempt to prevent the lynching of Albert Taborn, Tyson described how, "when it became clear the local authorities remained determined to see Taborn hanged, someone torched the tobacco warehouses downtown." (14) Here the burning of the tobacco warehouses can be seen as a symbol for the ending or destruction of black compliance and insubordination in Oxford.
Another interesting example of this parallel occurred later on in the book, when Tyson was recounting his father's experience of first moving into Oxford. "Daddy could literally inhale Oxford's history as he rolled into town that afternoon. The world's finest cigarette tobacco filled his nostrils as he passed the wooden warehouses stacked with brightleaf gold." (87) This quote is significant because of Tyson's implication that Oxford's history is equivalent to the scent of the tobacco. Rather than interpreting this quote literally, the reader can see this statement as Tyson's way to show how the industrialization and production of tobacco set the foundation of the town's history. Knowing that the profitability of tobacco relied heavily on the cheap labor of imported slaves, Tyson illustrates pointedly to the reader that the town's history is that of racial slavery.