Identifying Archaeological Evidence of Resistance to Prohibition in Pensacola, Florida

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)", at the 2024 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Prohibition is often remembered as the wild and roaring Jazz Age, filled with flappers, mobsters, federal agents, and hidden speakeasies. In today’s imagination, despite strict anti-alcohol laws, booze flowed freely in the streets and people drank with reckless abandon. But how did resistance to Prohibition manifest in Pensacola, Florida?

Using predictive GIS modeling and collections based research, this project will determine if it is possible to identify Prohibition Era deposits in the University of West Florida’s existing repository of archaeological collections. A model was developed to identify sites related to a broad range of past Pensacola residents in order to highlight possible differences in Prohibition-breaking behavior across various intersecting lines of sex, gender, race, religion, socioeconomic status, and more. Understanding the breaking of Prohibition as resistance highlights how various types of power were at play every time an illegal drink was poured in 1920s Pensacola.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2024   •
• Paper / Report Submission (General Sessions)

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow