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Profs and Pints presents: “Speaking of Speakeasies,” a discussion of prohibition and its boozy effects, with Allen Pietrobon, adjunct professor of modern American history at American University and visiting professor at Trinity Washington University.
The 1920 Constitutional amendment prohibiting the consumption of alcohol was supposed to solve some of the nation’s most pressing social issues, including alcoholism, childhood malnutrition, and domestic violence. Instead, it uncorked a vibrant cultural rebellion and a host of new social problems, with its heady effects still felt today. Attempts to circumvent or profit from Prohibition gave crime new meaning, provoking a 12-year-long gang war that made Al Capone a household name. Women became more liberated, a sexual revolution got underway, and jazz transformed from an underground expression of the African American experience into the soundtrack of a new generation. Even the president himself drank in violation of the law.
What role had alcohol played in American life leading up to prohibition? How had it become such a problem that the U.S. banned all “intoxicating beverages”? Why did the ban fail so spectacularly? How did this period change America? As you take in the answers, the bar will serve classic cocktails from the roaring twenties, including Gin Rickeys, Old Fashioneds, and Bees’ Knees.(Tickets $10 in advance and $12 at the door.)
