Prohibition Goals of prohibition 18th Amendment was mostly ignored
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 Bootlegging 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 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 New Words in the 1920s 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 Organized Crime Prohibition led to the increase in organized crime
Reasons Complex process of obtaining alcohol HUGE profits Gang wars became common as a result
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 Shocked the nation to realize extend of Klans abuses
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 Klans 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