AMERICAN TOBACCO HERITAGE
The Osher Lifelong Learning program at Duke University in North
Carolina is offering an eleven-session course this fall on the
American Tobacco Heritage.
For thousands of years, tobacco, that controversial herb, has
endured and flourished, even in the face of adversity and scorn
from every quarter. Since 1612, when John Rolfe, husband of Pocahontas,
commercialized, industrialized, and then cashed in on tobacco
revenue, the United States has reaped incomprehensible wealth
from this paradoxical commodity. This course will trace the history
of tobacco, from pre-historic days into the Spanish Columbian
era, to 17th century North American settlement and the establishment
of an 18th century “Tobacco Society” on our North
American continent, continuing through the beginning of the antebellum
period, and up to the 21st century.
Classes will feature videos of tobacco production and marketing,
speakers who are recognized by the contemporary tobacco industry
as leaders and experts on the subject, and tobacco researchers
from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.
As an added feature, class members will be invited to attend the
annual Mock Tobacco Auction, held on an early Saturday in September,
at the Duke Homestead State Historic Site in Durham.