1920's Social Changes

The 1920’s, or “The Roaring 20’s”, was a decade that witnessed exciting social changes. It was a time of prosperity and dissipation, bootleggers and jazz dancers, and most importantly, it was a decade of The Prohibition Era. The Prohibition Era is basically an era which banned the manufacture, transportation, import and export, and the sale of alcoholic beverages. It was meant to reduce crime, corruption, and social problems and increase the overall hygiene of America. However, this social and political experiment failed. The Prohibition Era lasted for thirteen years, from 1920 to 1933, and was associated with gangsters, bootleggers, and speakeasies. The era originated from Temperance Movements, which started in the 1840’s by religious denominations.

In fact, it took a great effort and struggle for both the federal and local government to enforce it. Even after a noticeable 30% drop in alcoholic consumption and a decline in arrests for drunkenness, bootlegging and speakeasies kept increasing and were extremely successful, especially towards the end of the Prohibition, for those who wanted to drink found many creative ways to do so. The purpose of the Prohibition was to promote the nation’s health and hygiene and reduce poverty, the rate of crime, and the amount of deaths. The average workers’ productivity was expected to increase improving the economy and the overall quality of life. However, the opposite occurred. Crimes associated with bootlegging increased and led to the rise of powerful crime syndicates such as the famous Chicago gangster Al Capone, who made use of the bootleg operations and speakeasies and earned $60 million annually. The criminal activity and the rise in gang violence increased with the progression of the decade, with court rooms and jails overflowing with criminals. Some would even have to wait a year to be brought to trial. Drug use also increased, replacing alcohol. In addition to that, the desire to increase workers’ productivity failed and instead of reducing the consumption of alcohol, which succeeded in the early 1920’s, people actually started to consume more alcohol towards the end of the Prohibition. This excess consumption of alcohol lead to alcoholic poisoning, one side effect of the Prohibition. Since bootleg alcohol was carelessly made, its quality was never pure and often contained creosote, lead toxins and even embalming fluid. This caused paralysis, blindness and painful death to consumers, who were then forced to turn to drugs and other dangerous substances to avoid such