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