Jews and Booze: Becoming American in the Age of Prohibition

Wednesday, March 20 at 12:00pm

Edward B. Bunn, S.J. Intercultural Center, CCAS Boardroom, 241 37th and O St., N.W., Washington

At the turn of the century, American Jews and prohibitionists viewed one another with growing suspicion. Jews believed that all Americans had the right to sell and consume alcohol, while prohibitionists insisted that alcohol commerce and consumption posed a threat to the nation's morality and security. The two groups possessed incompatible visions of what it meant to be a productive and patriotic American--and in 1920, when the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution made alcohol commerce illegal, jews discovered that ant-Semitic sentiments had mixed with anti-alcohol ideology, threatening their reputation and their standing in American society.

Marni Davis is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Georgia State University.

Lunch will be served. RSVP is requested.