History Commons^™

Spirits And Spirituality: Temperance And Racial Uplift In Nineteenth-Century Nantucket, Ma, John T. Crawmer

Graduate Masters Theses

Studies of alcohol consumption have shown alcohol’s role in defining social boundaries based on class and ethnicity, but few have interrogated alcohol in the context of race. During the early-19th century, free black communities were encouraged to refrain from alcohol as part of a larger project of racial uplift. Black societies and churches perceived intemperance as not only immoral but a threat to community survival. Excavations of the Nantucket African Meeting House noted a considerable lack of alcohol bottles, but it was unclear whether temperance was equally observed at the neighboring Boston-Higginbotham House. This research uses a minimum number of …

Graft And Slime In New York City: Exploring The Impact Of Organized Crime On The Nullification Of The Eighteenth Amendment, Tristan T. Kozul

Senior Projects Spring 2020

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

Skirting The Law: Women In Vice During U.S. Prohibition In South Texas, 1900-1933, Carolina Monsivais

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation explores both women's participation in the vice industry north of the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas and the ways in which women were policed. The Dissertation analyzes the interactions that occurred between law enforcement agents and the women they arrested, primarily ethnic Mexican women. This analysis illuminates law enforcement tactics that were honed during this era through the interactions that agents had with women who worked in vice industries. I also argue that women in this industry demonstrated knowledge, agency, and resistance. In addition, it created avenues of work for women, particularly in South Texas. However, studies examining …

She Makes A Beast Of Man, A Martyr Of Woman: Absinthe In France, 1908-1922, Celia Joan Faux

Senior Projects Spring 2019

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Social Studies of Bard College.

The Drunken Path: Discerning Women's Voices And Participation In The Informal Economy Of Illegal Manufacturing Of Prohibition Alcohol In The Historical And Archaeological Record, Kelli M. Casias

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis puts the Prohibition years in Anaconda and Butte, Montana, into historical, and sociocultural context to discover an engendered narrative of liquor law violators between the years 1923 and 1926 and to investigate the scope of the local informal, illegal, illicit economic systems dictating the distribution of illegal liquor during that era. The transference of the means and modes of production, as envisioned by Karl Marx, and collective social resistance serve as the theoretical frameworks for analysis and examination of three case studies. The first, Poacher Gulch is a remote mining site in western Montana, was the subject of …

Demon Rum In The City Of Churches: A Spirited Fight For Alcohol Reform In Danville, Virginia, 1883-1933, Evelyn Dawn Riley

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Utilizing previous research of American alcohol reform movements, and specifically studies of alcohol in Virginia during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, this thesis explores the multi-faceted story of Danville, Virginia and its alcohol reform from 1883-1933. Contained within these dates are critical events and stories chronicling the complex history of conflict, and occasional cooperation, regarding alcohol in a southern town. The goal of the thesis, comprised of two parts--a context paper and an accompanying digital exhibit--was to explore how Danville’s community structure and public discourse affected the way alcohol reform was experienced and discussed in the city. Findings indicated that …

Revenue First, Temperance Second : Jean Sheppard, Repeal And The Creation Of The New York State Liquor Authority, 1930-1934, Martin George Springfield

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The amending of the Volstead Act and repeal of national prohibition did not answer the "liquor question" but passed the issue to the states. This thesis examines New York's reaction to the change in national alcohol policy and the states decision to legalize and regulate the beverage with the establishment of the New York State Liquor Authority. It traces the activities of Jean Sheppard who led the state division of the Women's Organization for National Prohibition Reform (WONPR) and became one of the key architects of New York's modern alcohol control system. As an expert in alcohol control policies Sheppard …

Alcohol Production And Consumption Throughout U.S. History, And More Particularly In El Paso, Texas, As It Relates To Social Norms Theory, Jennifer Matthews

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis traces the history of alcohol production and consumption throughout U.S. history by following the course of the four major periods of relative equilibrium in social norms that the country has experienced. It uses this socio-historiography as a platform to understand how national trends in alcohol production and consumption were experienced along the border in El Paso, Texas, in a very unique fashion. The thesis aspires to augment El Paso's pride and sense of identity by building on knowledge of local history, customs, and norms.

The Drinking Age Debates, Joy Shana Newman Getnick

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In times when regulation, not prohibition, has prevailed, Americans have struggled to regulate youth and young adult alcohol use in a way that targets undesirable problem behaviors and future potential for severe abuse, while acknowledging the realities of youthful moderate drinking. Historically, changes in youth drinking laws reflected new adult understandings of youth alcohol use. These laws were a legislative manifestation of changing public opinion, and the perceived role that policy should play in promoting safe, intelligent drinking behavior.

Raising The Hatchet Or Raising The Glass: Prohibition In Clark County, Arkansas, Katie Mccormack

Honors Theses

Prohibition did not begin with the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1920, nor did it end after the repeal of the Prohibition Movement in 1933 . In fact, by the time national prohibition was sent to the states for ratification, twenty-seven states had already adopted statewide prohibition laws. When national prohibition was repealed, previously enacted state prohibition laws remained intact. Therefore, despite the repeal of prohibition at the national level, thirty-eight percent of the nation's population lived in areas with state or local prohibition after 1933.

After national repeal, however, state prohibition laws were gradually abandoned as more regions …