1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. Organized Crime Prohibition led to the increase in organized crime
Reasons
Complex process of obtaining alcohol
HUGE profits

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. Klan Revival Mostly eliminated during Reconstruction Period
Revived by Atlanta preacher Col. Simmons in 1915
By 1924 membership had grown to 4 million

15. Shocked the nation to realize extend of Klan’s 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 Klan’s abuses
By 1927 the Klan began to diminish once again

16. 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