Wilson Daily Times, 10 August 1940.
Hartford Bess‘ Handel’s Chorus sang at the 1940 Tobacco Festival, performing scenes that we would today find cringey. In the spirit of “don’t hate the player, hate the game,” I try not to judge.
Tobacco Festival
Where we worked: Southern Tobacco Company.
On the back of a truck in Wilson’s 1939 Tobacco Festival parade, African-American employees of Southern Tobacco Company No. 2 simulate processing tobacco. At the time the photo was shot, the float was passing in front of the county courthouse in the 100 block of East Nash Street.
Photo courtesy of J. Robert Boykin III.