Women and Prohibition

Before Prohibition began, there were Temperance movements mostly chartered by women since the early 1800’s. The effects of liquor had negative effects on family life, productivity and moral codes, which were seen as a threat to the home. By the late 19th century, liquor had become the premier women’s issue. Kenneth Rose, the author of American Women and the Repeal of Prohibition, writes, “In small cities and towns across the Midwest and Northeast, women staged prayer vigils in saloons and worked polling places to urge men to vote against liquor.” Organizations were formed like Anti-Saloon Leagues and the most well-known, Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).

In Baltimore, the same type of action among women was present during election time in 1920. In the Afro-American Newspaper on October 1, 1920, there was a column “Primer for Women Voters.” The only issue at hand was how to vote for a dry candidate.

“Question- Would you consider it wise to vote for a Republican candidate who is not in favor of prohibition?

Answer- Friends of “prohibition” must stand together and vote together and take no chances at this election. The only safe thing to do is find out before election day which candidates are wet and which are dry and vote for none but dry candidates.”

But what happens when both candidates are “wet?” Well, then that’s where other issues have to be examined. Another article not aimed towards women in the Afro-American Newspaper about elections explains the defeat of Dr. Leon Robinson to Mr. Warner T. McGuinn was not due to prohibition stances because they were both wet. The mere mention of this proves that candidates’ position on Prohibition weighed heavily on how people in Baltimore voted.

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1 Kenneth Rose, American Women and the Repeal of Prohibition, New York: New York University Press, 1996.

2 “A PRIMER FOR WOMEN VOTERS” Afro-American (1893-1988); Oct 1, 1920; ProQuest Historical Newspapers Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988)pg. 6

3 THE ELECTION Afro-American (1893-1988); Apr 4, 1919; ProQuest Historical Newspapers Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988) pg. A4

photo courtesy: Jesse Collins

Oral Histories

I thought I would go through the Oral Histories that University of Baltimore has in order to find some personal stories about prohibition. Unfortunately the task proved to be tedious and not very fruitful. I did find a little and this is what I came up with.



On Monseignor Wheland in South Baltimore:

Kupchyk: Ok Joe... I wanted to start talking about the role of churches in South Baltimore, religion in churches. You had mentioned Msgr. Wheland at St. Mary's. Could you tell me about Msgr. Wheland, what kind of man
he was?
Thomen: Well, he was a very intelligent man and a very direct man; he spoke, didn't mix any words. And he was very good talker; in other words he had here every Wednesday evening he got a Sodality of men and women. And the church would be packed with people. Not only spoke on religion, but he spoke an the topics of the day, such as prohibition and anything that was generally topics of the day, he called them. And he was a very good talker . . .
Kupchyk: Could you go back to the Sodality nights with Msgr. Wheland - you mentioned he talked about the topics of the day. And you mentioned earlier that he had predicted Prohibition.
Thommen: Yes he did, he predicted Prohibition 4 or 5 years before it happened. He said that he didn" believe in it, but he could see that it was coming because of the actions of the bartenders, barkeepers and so forth and the breweries, and so forth. He said he didn't believe in it and wasn't for it. But it would happen, and it did.
Kupchyk: Do you know why he wasn't for it?
Thommen: Well, I just imagine that he could forsee certain things, you know, that were happening that would bring it on. and, of course, he was one of those type of men that was up on everything, he was quite a power in his time. And he had a lot of influence; he knew the biggest men in the state and it was said of him that whenever Cardinal Gibbons went to Washington he always took Msgr. Wheland along with him.

Joseph Thommen. Interview by Areta Kupchyk. Interview 180, Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD. page 23

On neighborhood relations:

Jacklin: You were friendly with the neighbors weren't you?
Feehley: Oh yes, we spoke, but we just didn't mingle, you know. We had nothing in common.
Jacklin: They were Germans, but they were probably Lutherans.
Feehley: Yes, the one next door, and then she was German too. But her mother-in-law lived across the street, and she was back and forth, back and forth. She wasn't interested in us. Oh, she was interested one day, prohibition, the end of prohibition, Bernard had a case of beer delivered here and she asked for a bottle. At the end of prohibition.

Mary Feehley. Interview by Thomas Jacklin, Interview 013,Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD,page 59