This month’s focus for Bella is “youth.” So, we thought we would tell y’all about the awesome Tomato Girls.
Early in 1910, a 25-year-old rural Aiken County school teacher named Marie Cromer noticed a lack of organizations the local young ladies of her school could join. The young boys had several agricultural clubs to choose from, but the girls had none. Marie Cromer set out to change this by founding the Girls’ Tomato Club of Aiken County at the Talatha School. The club charged the young girls to grow and can 1/10th of an acre of tomatoes. Her goal was that the club members would “not learn simply how to grow better and more perfect tomatoes, but how to grow better and more perfect women.” The group had its first canning session in Aiken in July of 1910. This meeting started what is said to be the first such club in the country.
The club members were tasked with processing their entire crop of tomatoes from seed to can and maintaining a journal of their work. These tomatoes represented much more than the fruit themselves — they were a way for these young ladies to provide for their families, to make a bit of extra money for themselves, and to socialize within their community. As others learned of Cromer’s project, she was able to organize a competition among the club members for most cans of tomatoes produced. The grand prize was a scholarship to Winthrop College for one year, funded by the South Carolina General Assembly.
College for Canned Tomatoes
The Winthrop College scholarship went to the Tomato Girl who put up 512 cans, Katie Gunter. Not only was Gunter the winner at the county level, but also at the state and national levels. Young women living in rural areas like Katie Gunter and her fellow Tomato Club members benefited from their hard work and dedication by developing lifelong skills in agriculture, business, and home economics. For instance, after canning her first year’s crop, Gunter reaped $40 in profit for her family, an amount equal to a month’s salary for her teacher, Marie Cromer.
When the first Girls’ Tomato Clubs were formed, schools were segregated, thus when Tomato Clubs were formed at the independent schools, they were segregated as well. However, in the early years of the club, competition between the school clubs was encouraged. In this particular instance, the various races of the segregated South came together for one purpose: the Girls’ Tomato Club. They shared conversations and they shared their passion for agriculture and economics.
Marie Cromer (r) and Aiken County School Superintendent Cecil Seigler (l) stand near the Girls’ Tomato Club’s display at the 1910 South Atlantic Corn Exposition in Columbia, South Carolina. The county won an agricultural library for its fine showing. Cromer is displaying a large ear of corn that she manufactured to be covered in corn kernels and stand 43 inches high and 12 inches across. ACHM Collection.
“Aiken is a great county and you are going to make it better.” — Letter from Marie Cromer to her Tomato Girls
Within its first year, the Girls’ Tomato Club expanded rapidly from its original 46 members to over 3,000 young women, ages 10 – 18 years. The U.S. Farm Demonstration Service’s South Carolina office noticed Cromer’s work and donated $5,000 to the project. This money was used to buy canning equipment and bring experienced operators to teach the club members. The first demonstration of the new canning machines took place at the Aiken County Court House. After the tomatoes were processed, a label was applied to each can bearing the autograph of the grower, and a notice that each can was “Put up by the Girl’s Tomato Club of Aiken County.”
By 1913, over 20,000 girls were enrolled in canning clubs across 15 Southern states. In 1916, the U.S. Department of Agriculture became interested in this “growing” club, and Cromer, who had been hired as a USDA agent in 1910, was promoted to the level of state organizer. Under her guidance, the Girls’ Tomato Club began to expand nationally.
“Tomato Club. Tomato Club. See how we can. See how we can. Give us tomatoes and a good sharp knife…” – Song of the Girls’ Tomato Club, c. 1914
Although Girls’ Tomato Clubs no longer exist, Cromer’s work lives on in 4-H Clubs, Women’s Home Demonstration Clubs, and most high school home economics courses, which can trace their founding to communications with Marie Cromer’s office. In 1953, Cromer was recognized by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower for her work in the founding of the national 4-H Club. Marie Cromer Seigler — she married Aiken County School Superintendent Cecil Seigler in 1912 — passed away in 1964 and is buried in Eureka, South Carolina. The Marie Cromer Seigler house still stands at 192 Johnston Highway and is marked with a South Carolina State Historical marker erected by the Aiken County Historical Society. In honor of her contributions to the profession of agriculture, Marie Cromer Seigler was inducted into the Frank Lever County Extension Agent Hall of Fame at Clemson University in 2017.
The legacy of the Girls’ Tomato Club.
Many articles have been written about the creation of Tomato Girls’ Clubs. A particularly thorough and fascinating article was written by Elizabeth S. D. Engelhardt, the John Shelton Reed Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She concludes her article on the history of Tomato Clubs by observing that “[it] may have only lasted for a few years, but leave it to a group of southern women and girls to slip the heady taste of freedom, modern life, and social change into seemingly innocuous, ever-present cans and jars of home-grown tomatoes resting on a shelf, waiting to be opened and savored.” A wise observation indeed of the long-lasting effects of the Girls’ Tomato Club and its role in providing young women with a sense of independence and economic power.
Marie Cromer working with her Girls’ Tomato Club members, c. 1917. Image courtesy of the International Harvester Bulletins, Volume 2.
But wait, you may ask, why tomatoes?
According to an interview given by Marie Cromer in 1913, she stated that she “chose the tomato because for many years I had been interested in this fruit. To me it is the most interesting fruit in the world. Tomatoes are almost universally liked. They are beautiful, they are easily cultivated, they are ripening from early spring until late autumn, they may be kept for some time so they can be exhibited, they are enjoyable at breakfast, dinner and supper, and they may be used while green as well as after ripening. We can them, stuff them, we eat them sliced, we make ketchup, preserves, mincemeat, pickles, sausage, jelly, wine, honey, and candy from them. We may eat them with sugar or eat them with salt. They are delicious in any way we prepare or serve them.” We can think of no better argument for the superiority of tomatoes over all other fruits and vegetables.
As we approach the peak of tomato season in the South, we ask you to please enjoy this most perfect fruit and think of how it brought economic independence and agricultural skills to the youth of our nation. Stay curious y’all!
