Topic Post: Prohibition

Who/what: The first image is a photograph of a crowd of women protesting against Prohibition at an anti-Prohibition parade in New Jersey. The second image is a group of women associated with the Temperance movement – a movement before and during Prohibition that aimed for lesser (and ideally no) consumption of alcohol. During 1920-1933, the 18^th Amendment was in effect, prohibiting the production, transportation, and consumption of alcohol for all Americans. With this, a division of pro-Prohibition and anti-Prohibition protesters marked the country’s civil dissension not just in terms of alcohol, but socio-political tension that was inevitably entangled with the possession of alcohol during the Progressive Era.   

Where: The first photograph was taken at an anti-Prohibition parade in Newark, New Jersey. The second image originated during the Prohibition Era (1920-1933).

When: Both of these images originated during the Prohibition Era, specifically, the former in 1932 – the year when the establishments of Prohibition were torn down by the large majority of Americans protesting for the repeal of the 18^th Amendment (eventually leading to the 21^st Amendment).

Why: These two images parallel the left-wing and right-wing believers of Prohibition, framing the divided American society during the Progressive Era and showing the question of alcohol as a means to protest.

Identities: The main identity articulated through these images are people who identity with either anti-Prohibition or pro-Prohibition. However, largely speaking, these people are also protesters during one of America’s greatest socio-political reform eras: the Progressive Era.  

Proof of Identities: In 1920, the passage of the 18^th Amendment affected Americans’ views of government, especially questioning the right to their “pursuit of happiness” given the absence of alcohol. Before the Progressive Era, women (especially of Christian groups) fought for temperance, which would later develop into a mass movement protesting for anti-alcohol consumption prevalent during the Progressive Era. This was one of the sectors of the pro-Prohibition group along with other Progressives against the influence of alcohol on political machines. Meanwhile, a contrasting identity had formed. There were Americans still adrift in the Jazz Age, simply desiring to once again have easy access to alcohol.  

Works Cited:

“Anti-Prohibition Protest.” Government, Politics, and Protest: Essential Primary Sources. Hulton-Deutsch Collection.              2006.

Prohibition: A “Noble Experiment” Gone Wrong.     

    https://lizzyoungbookseller.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/prohibition-a-noble-experiment-gone-             wrong/