The Tobacco Wives

This chapter begins with an introduction to Aunt Etta, Maddie’s great-aunt who lives in Bright Leaf, North Carolina, and is regarded as “the best professional seamstress in all tobacco country” (9). As a child, Maddie spent parts of her summers with Aunt Etta, meeting halfway at a Texaco station to get picked up, and it was there at Aunt Etta’s that Maddie learned to sew. As she awakens in the backseat, she sees the Texaco sign, but Momma tells her that they are driving the whole way to see Aunt Etta. June and July are Etta’s busiest months, during which she sews clothing for the “tobacco wives,” who are married to the richest and most powerful men in Bright Leaf: the owners of the tobacco fields, barns, and cigarette factory. Maddie would usually visit Etta in August once the tobacco wives’ busy social season came to a close, and she was back to sewing for the factory workers and townspeople. Maddie recalls seeing the polished tobacco wives around town in their exquisite clothing, and under Etta’s supervision, Maddie graduated from making factory uniforms to working on winter gowns for the wives. As Maddie and Momma arrive at Aunt Etta’s in the present, Maddie realizes that Aunt Etta is surprised by their visit and that her mother is leaving her with Aunt Etta.

Aunt Etta makes Maddie breakfast and Maddie apologizes for being dropped off unexpectedly. Aunt Etta explains that Maddie’s mother had a difficult time as a girl when she lost her father and that the old wounds haven’t healed. She tells Maddie that they have busy day ahead visiting Mrs. Winston, who is regarded as the first lady of Bright Leaf, and that the work they do for her is very important for business. They must maintain a good impression and keep things professional. Mrs. Winston’s husband, Richard Winston, is the president of Bright Leaf Tobacco. As Maddie changes into her best dress in Etta’s home workspace and studio, she runs into Etta’s neighbor, Frances, who is the lead executive secretary of Bright Leaf Tobacco. Frances claims that she was just visiting for a slice of bread, but Maddie overhears the two women taking quietly upstairs, and there seems to be something unspoken going on between them.

Maddie and Etta ride the bus to the Winston family home and Maddie takes in the familiar surroundings. They chat with the bus driver whose wife is sick with cancer but plans to return to the factory once she heals. There are factory workers on the bus with them and laborers who work in the fields farming tobacco; some laborers are white but most of them are Black, and there are many young children. Maddie and Etta arrive at the Winston home, a sprawling mansion lined by trees and staffed with servants. Etta reintroduces Maddie to Mrs. Winston (who goes by Mitzy) during her dress fitting, and Mitzy immediately takes a liking to Maddie. She is a charming and outgoing woman who treats Maddie warmly and invites her to the upcoming Summer Solstice event. Maddie tells her that she would love to attend college on a fashion apprenticeship someday. She gets lost in thought recalling how Daddy encouraged her to go to college but her mother disapproved because “women were supposed to act like they couldn’t do anything without a man” (42). Maddie can tell that Mitzy wishes she had children and notices pink marks and stretched skin on her stomach during her dress fitting. The chapter ends as Mitzy expresses her gratitude for the factory workers, especially the women who have taken over working while the men were fighting overseas. She asks Etta to share Summer Solstice raffle tickets with the factory workers so that they can win prizes.

Maddie and Etta visit the large Bright Leaf Tobacco Factory headquarters to pick up uniforms for mending and adding special patches to advertise the newest cigarette: MOMints, a mint-flavored cigarette made specifically for women. Etta says that it is a proud moment for the women who are running the factory lines and manufacturing a cigarette for women. There will be green uniform patches to indicate the specific work that they’re doing. Etta and Maddie walk through the factory floor of Factory One, where Maddie is overwhelmed by the intensity of the sights, smells, and conditions of the difficult work. Amidst the loud machinery and air thick with mint oil, she witnesses women at work sifting through cigarettes on the line, their fingernails bloody and arms welted. She observes a few factory workers in the break room complaining about the circumstances and how men at the factory make twice as much for the same work. Maddie reunites with Anthony LaRue, a young tailor with whom she became close a few years earlier who now works in alterations at the factory. At the entrance of Factory Two, Etta tells Maddie about the reconstituted or recon cigarettes made there using the scraps and remnants off the floors of Factory One and then sold without a brand name; most people are unaware of this production, and Etta calls recon “a nasty business and hard on the workers—but a real moneymaker” (58). At home, Maddie discovers black flecks on her skin and a thick ring of brown grime around her ankles, evidence of tobacco from the factory, though they had been there no more than 15 minutes. Mitzy had a new dress delivered to Etta’s house for Maddie to wear to the Summer Solstice, and Maddie wonders what is causing Mitzy to be so kind.