Prohibition

•  Goals of prohibition – Eliminate drunks – Eliminate abuse caused by drunks – Get rid of saloons where gambling and

prostitution thrived – Prevent missed word and accidents caused by

drunkenness •  18th Amendment was mostly ignored

– Especially among coastal cities •  Only 5% of New Yorkers observed the law

•  Prior to 18th Amendment bootleggers were people who hid liquor in a flask in their boots

•  After 18th Amendment referred to people who supplied alcohol – Made their own –  Imported illegally from

Canada or the Caribbean

Bootlegging

Speakeasies

•  Illegally operated bars •  Bars flourished during

Prohibition more than before the law was passed – Washington D.C.

•  300 bars before Prohibition •  700 bars after Prohibition

•  Entrance to a speakeasy was heavily guarded and often had false fronts

•  A variety of new words were coined in the 1920s relating to alcohol and Prohibition. Here are a few:

•  Moonshiners: Producers of homemade distilled spirits

•  Rumrunners: Alcohol smugglers •  Bootleggers: Alcohol distributors •  Bathtub Gin: Gin made in the

bathtub, because the preferred style of bottle didn't fit in the kitchen sink!

•  Slang Words for Alcohol: •  coffin varnish •  white mule •  horse liniment •  monkey rum •  panther sweat •  rot gut •  tarantula juice

•  Slang Words for Getting Drunk: •  oiled •  fried •  tight •  wet •  blotto •  corked •  stewed •  tanked •  lit up like a Christmas tree

New Words in the 1920s

•  Prohibition led to the increase in organized crime

•  Reasons – Complex process of obtaining alcohol – HUGE profits

Organized Crime

•  Problems occurred when groups tried to expand their business and clashed with other groups

•  Gang wars became common as a result •  Bootlegging gangs often branched out into

other illegal activities – Gambling – Prostitution – Racketeering

Racketeering

•  Bribing government officials and police officers to turn their backs on illegal activity

•  Forcing business owners to pay for “protection” –  If not, killed or business

destroyed

Al Capone

•  Nicknamed “Scar Face” •  Worked his way up organized

crime by killing people •  Had most government officials

in his back pocket – Made $60 million/year from

bootlegging •  Ultimately sent to jail for tax

evasion

Fundamentalism

•  Growing conflict between societal trends and religion

•  Challenges to religious beliefs – Growing science and technological advances – WW I – Movement among scholars who promoted the

belief that the Bible was written by humans and therefore subject to error

•  In response religious movement began called fundamentalism

•  Argued that the Bible is inspired by word of God so it cannot contain errors – Every word should be taken literally

Scopes Trial

•  Tennessee banned evolution from being taught in public schools in 1925

•  Science teacher John Scopes challenged the law – Cited it denied him religious freedom

•  Trial brought together the two most famous lawyers of the time – William Jennings Bryan – Clarence Dow

•  Drew massive attention •  First trial ever broadcast on radio in

America •  Judge instructed jury to decide only whether

Scopes had taught evolution – They did and he was fined $100

Growing Racial Tensions •  “Red Summer”

– Summer of 1919 saw massive mob violence between whites and African Americans

– Especially in Chicago •  Fighting reached height at a beach in

Chicago – Black boy was hit with a rock for swimming

into a white only section and drowned – Resulted in a riot that lasted for days

•  Almost 40 people died •  Over 500 injured

Klan Revival

•  Mostly eliminated during Reconstruction Period

•  Revived by Atlanta preacher Col. Simmons in 1915

•  By 1924 membership had grown to 4 million

•  Refocused mission to defend their culture against anyone not a native-born, white, Protestant

•  Targeted –  African Americans –  Catholics –  Jewish People –  Immigrants

•  In 1925 head of the Klan was sentenced to life in prison for assaulting a girl who later killed herself

•  Shocked the nation to realize extend of Klan’s abuses

•  By 1927 the Klan began to diminish once again

Garvey Movement

•  Marcus Garvey established a UNIA – Movement encouraged

African Americans to return to Africa to create a new nation

•  Although movement diminished after Garvey was deported back to Jamaica served as the foundation for future black pride movements