Profs and Pints Onlinepresents: “Speaking of Speakeasies,” a discussion of prohibition and its boozy effects, with Allen Pietrobon, assistant professor of Global Affairs at Trinity Washington University and former professorial lecturer in history at American University.

Bars are closed, we're doing Zoom happy hours at home, and alcohol consumption in America has skyrocketed due to social distancing. No better time, perhaps, to look back at prohibition and the role alcohol played in American life before and after.

The 1920 Constitutional amendment prohibiting the consumption of alcohol had been billed as a solution to 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, unleashing a sexual revolution, and jazz transformed from an underground expression of the African American experience into the soundtrack of a new generation.

Considering that even the president himself drank in violation of the law, why bother with prohibition? How had alcohol 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? Come find out with an online talk that will leave you having a great night but still feeling fine the next morning. If you dress up in 20s costume, we'll happily pull you onscreen. (This talk remains available in recorded form.)

Profs and Pints Online: Speaking of Speakeasies