The first African slaves sold in the US were sold at Jametown, Virginia in 1619 specifically for the cultivation of tobacco. Other peoples were enslaved by the British for the agricultural and industrial development of the American colonies, but the problem with everyone else was that they just died. My Irish ancestors were enslaved by the British and died in droves, as did other European and Asian peoples. Africans were the only people who could withstand not only the physical deprivation of slavery, but the emotional and spiritual deprivation as well. This inherent strength of character, I am sure, is what impelled the southern white to work so hard to "keep the black man down" after the Civil War. They were afraid. The agricultural south was built on the backs of African Americans. In the agricultural post-Civil War south, why would African Americans need the southern whites once they were freed? Here are some tobacciana items that reflect the white state of mind in the early to mid 20th century.