The Equity

This is just a picture of an old barn, and would have very little interest, except for the fact that the caption says “Equity Barn” and it says “Equity” on the side of the barn itself.  That, as they say, changes everything.

That “Equity” was an announcement, in 1908 or so, that said to the world:  “Do Not Burn Me Down I'm on the Side of the Tobacco Farmer.”  It says that the tobacco in this barn is housed on behalf of the American Society of Equity, or ASE, or, usually, just “the Equity.”

It was 1908-1911 or so, and the tobacco farmers of Kentucky and the rest of the tobacco belt were at war with the James Duke and the American Tobacco Company, whose monopoly on tobacco prices drove many farmer to the brink of bankruptcy.

What does a UK-Duke basketball game have to do with Night Riders?  Tobacco prices?  What's the ASE?  What's the importance of that word “equity?” Know about the Kentucky Tobacco Wars? One more click and you're there. Go here.