The Senate passes a resolution to present a constitutional amendment prohibiting the sale or consumption of alcohol to the states for ratification
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The House of Representatives and the Senate pass a revised resolution
The 18th Amendment to the Constitution is certified after being ratified by 48 states
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House and Senate pass Volstead Act over presidential veto
Legal enforcement begins
William (Bill) McCoy pioneered ‘rum-running.’ He sailed a boat with 1,500 cases of alcohol from the Bahamas to the U.S. It wasn’t moonshine but was ‘the real McCoy.’
M. Louise Gross formed the Molly Pitcher Club. It was a woman’s anti-Prohibition group. The Club opposed federal interference with personal behaviors that it thought should not be criminal.
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Williamson County Illinois, battles between speakeasy owners and the ‘dry’ Ku Klux Klan killed 14 people, the Ku Klux Klan strongly supported Prohibition and its very strict enforcement
Indiana passed the Wright Bone Dry Bill. It greatly increased penalties for possessing illegal alcohol. Described as “one of the most repressive” laws ever passed in the state, enforcing it was very hard.
Doctors made an estimated $40,000,000 annually by writing prescriptions for medicinal spirits.78 That’s equal to over 550 million (over half a billion) dollars today.
Stock Market Crash
Dust Bowl Begins
President Roosevelt launches the New Deal to help recover from the Dust Bowl and Great Depression
Roosevelt begins "fireside chats" which were broadcasts from his home where he would update the country
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Record high temperature go across the nation leaving 75% in drought
The Share Our Wealth society is founded, makes the rich give "excesses" money to the poor
Known as Black Sunday, the worst dust storm hits the United States. In order to help farmers learn how to work sustainably, President Roosevelt introduces the Soil Conservation Act
The Works Progress Administration is created by the Emergency Relief Appropriation, hiring 8.5 million people to help with the unemployment crisis
In an attempt to relieve the country’s debt, they cut back spending on the New Deal programs, which ultimately pushed the economy back into the depression. In the end, after a $5 billion relief program was enacted by Congress, the economy grew by 5.1%
Economy starts to grow and the Great Depression ends but unemployment is still low
Brown vs. Board of Education, which overturned desegregated schools across the United States
Montgomery Bus Boycott
Greensboro sit-ins, African Americans sat at a segregated diner and refused to leave after being denied service
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Protests against the Vietnam War spread across the nation
"freedom riders" who were both black and white traveling to the South to investigate continued discrimination were met with verbal and physical abuse
Martin Luther writes famous "Letter from Brigham Jail" in which he states that individuals should fight unjust laws
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Martin Luther led thousand to the steps of the capital in Alabama where after a 5 day march people spoke out about the in justice they were experiencing
New York Abortion Speak Out where women could talk about their then illegal abortions and there experiences
