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Speakeasies In The 1920's

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Civil disobedience is inevitable, when the government violates the autonomy and ignores the societal welfare of the people. Similarly, in the 1920s, the enactment of Prohibition restricted the personal liberties of the american population and worsened economy to a certain degree. The failure of Prohibition to improve good family morals and the quality of life caused growing disdain for its implementation. At the time, organized crime became the embodiment of protest against the government, because of the money that mafias made selling illegal alcohol, which opposed Prohibition. As a result, the public viewed these organizations as heroes, due mostly in part to their actions against the government and the benefits foreseen from joining. Gang …show more content…

Speakeasies, used to illegally sell alcohol during the Prohibition era, were hidden underground establishments that were mainly associated with gangs that supplied the liquor and were synonymous to Prohibition. These establishments were rampant all over the country “In New York City alone, there were 35,000 illegal drinking establishments, as estimated by the New York City police department” (Lerner 138). Assuming that there could have been more Speakeasies, as these estimates were from court cases since the people involved did not keep record “it is safe to say that speakeasies were extremely plentiful in almost every corner of the United States during Prohibition” over all proving its prominence within the country (Collins 24). Additionally these establishments had become as popular as they were at the time because of the rebellion sought out from entering a Speakeasy. Opposition to the prohibition laws reached its peak when blue collar workers and business owners alike became friends in order to drink and avoid the law, since it became “fashionable to flout the Prohibition laws “ (speakeasies) The staggering amount of Speakeasies became a symbol of support for gang culture as well as opposition to the government. Since organized crime was able to thrive from any normal person participating in a Speakeasy, the integration of gang culture within the community was shown from the support given to them. Moreover, Gang culture became popular in the sense that speakeasies gave people the means to oppose the law and protest it in their own

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This is were speakeasies came in and turned the 1920s into a drunken illegal party. Speakeasies are small illegal drinking dens, saloons or nightclubs that sold illicit alcoholic beverages during the Prohibition Era. Speakeasies are “ hidden room with barely drinkable booze - were mostly run by gangsters.” To get into a speakeasy you must say the secret

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Speakeasies were establishments that arose as a response to Prohibition making it illegal to sell alcohol. They were saloons where one could buy alcohol in secret. They were called speakeasies because one was supposed to speak softly about them as to not tip off the police. A specific example of a speakeasy would be Schaller’s Pump in the Bridgeport neighborhood in the south side of Chicago.

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Although drinking was generally thought to have declined during Prohibition, it had instead, continued uninterrupted in many parts of the country, particularly in large cities and areas with large foreign-born populations. Smuggling on such a large scale could not be prevented, and the illegal manufacture of liquor sprang up with such speed that authorities were hard pressed to contain it. Thus began a period of illegal drinking, lawbreaking, organized crime, and the corruption of public officials. During Prohibition there was a 24 percent increase in crime rate between 1920 and 1921. The rate of arrests on account of drunkenness rose 41 percent, and arrests for drunken driving increased 81 percent.

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