Spirited: Prohibition in America

During the era of Prohibition, Americans no longer could manufacture, sell or transport intoxicating beverages from 1920 until 1933. Spirited: Prohibition in America, explores this tumultuous time in American history, when flappers and suffragists, bootleggers and temperance lobbyists, and legends such as Al Capone and Carry Nation, took sides in this battle against the bottle.

The exhibition draws on the histories told from both sides of this divisive issue that riled passions and created volatile situations. In the end after a decade of wide-spread corruption, wavering public opinion, and the need to generate revenue from an alcohol tax, the 18thAmendment became the first ever repealed. With the passing of the 21stAmendment, Prohibition ended on December 5, 1933 to a very different America. Today, Prohibition’s legacy can be traced through state laws regulating alcohol, created to avoid the excesses before Prohibition and the corruption and lawlessness experienced during the roaring ‘20s.