You Can't Eat Tobacco

Description	A social issue film directed at the problems of public health and malnutrition among rural southern tenant-farming communities. The film points directly to exploitative practices of the tobacco industry and reliance on tobacco growing as a cash crop in these communities as the cause of an ongoing cycle of poverty and poor public health. "Here is tobacco land: land of lost hope, land of broken promises, land of broken lives" states Margaret Cussler's narration. Urging farmers to turn away from this single crop system in order to improve their own lives and those of the community, they suggest "the remedy is so close at hand - in the land itself." Farmers raising their own food, it is suggested, will lead to better health, community agents will provide guidance in raising food, gaining income from selling farm produce, education for children, and home economics programs. The concluding message to these communities is to "Eat well and be well. Learn about it, read about it, talk about it."
Creator	Margaret T. Cussler Mary L. DeGive
Format	16mm release print
Date Issued	1942
Spatial Coverage	Bath, North Carolina, U.S.
Color/Black & White	Color
Sound/Silent	Sound
Nation of Origin	U.S.