Wikimedia Commons/NPatrick6; Charles Keck
Duke’s Jewish Cigarette Rollers Battle the Bonsack Machine
In 1881, tobacco king James “Buck” Duke went to New York with a plan.
He hired Moses Gladstein, a fired Ukrainian strike leader, to bring 125 Jewish cigarette rollers to Durham.
These skilled workers soon made 250,000 cigarettes daily by hand while living in rough shacks on “Yiddisha Streetal.” Then came April 30, 1884…