Plaque unveiling to be held at Cigar Factory to honor pivotal role in Southern activism

[JohnS]

Plaque unveiling to be held at Cigar Factory to honor pivotal role in Southern activism

by Abigail Quinn - Wed, October 29, 2025 at 9:42 AM

The White House officially designated the Charleston Cigar Factory on East Bay as a national historic landmark. The Department of the Interior's highest recognition of historical, architectural, or archeological significance. Dec. 17, 2024 (WCIV)

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — The former East Bay Street Cigar Factory was recently awarded a National Historic Landmark designation, and in celebration of the prestigious recognition, an unveiling event will be held for the plaque.

This award is the Department of the Interior's highest recognition of historical, architectural, or archeological significance. Giving such a designation preserves the building's history as a having played a pivotal role in Southern labor activism in the mid-20th century.

According to historians, on October 22, 1945, union workers at the American Tobacco Company’s Cigar Factory in Charleston launched a strike that lasted for five months. They led efforts for fair wages, better conditions and civil rights.

What began as a protest to address local grievances however, became a nationwide movement that challenged the low wages and poor working conditions in American Tobacco Company plants. 

Although the strike achieved only modest victories, its legacy endured.

Now, the Cigar Factory serves as a tangible connection to the past, reminding visitors how architecture, labor and culture intersected to shape not only the city of Charleston but also, the nation.

The commemoration ceremony and the reception will be held at the Cigar Factory on Oct. 29 at 5 p.m. 

The program will feature remarks by Representative Wendell Gaillard, Lucile Cogswell, Professor Damon Fordham from the Citadel, a representative of the National Trust

Source: https://abcnews4.com/news/local/plaque-unveiling-to-be-held-at-cigar-factory-to-honor-pivotal-role-in-southern-activism-east-bay-street-fair-wages-better-conditions-civil-rights