This lecture was recorded via Zoom on March 10, 2021
Video - Taverns, Temperance, Teetotalers, and Tommy Guns: The Long History of Prohibition
If you missed this exciting presentation or if you would like to revisit the lecture, you now can view it on the Weston Historical Society's You Tube Channel.
Watch The History of Prohibition Lecture Here
“Taverns, Temperance, Teetotalers, and Tommy Guns: The Long History of Prohibition” explores the 18th Amendment, Prohibition. Learn about the ubiquity of alcohol consumption in early America, the rise and influence of the temperance movement during the nineteenth century, and the progressive roots of Prohibition.
Prohibition was one facet of old-stock American, rural, Protestant rule in the 1920’s that brought about severe restrictions on immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, and the rise of organized crime. By the election of Franklin Roosevelt in 1932, the nation acknowledged prohibition to have been a colossal failure.
Francis Michael Coan, Professor of History at Tunxis Community College, has taught history and geography for thirty years. From 2007 until 2019, he served as Chairman of the Social Sciences and History Department at Tunxis. He holds a B.A. in Geography and M.A. in History from Central Connecticut State University and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Connecticut. Predominantly a military historian but with an interest in geography that dates to childhood, he grew up in a home replete with books, atlases, toy soldiers, model airplanes, and plastic armored fighting vehicles. Of Irish descent and proud of it, he resides in Bristol (where his family has resided since 1906) with his wife and Norwegian Forest cat, Mia. Despite---or perhaps due to---his Irish heritage, he is a teetotaler.
Stephen P. McGrath recently retired from teaching at Central Connecticut State University, where he taught American history and European revolutions. He earned an M.A.in history at Trinity College, where his adviser was Glenn Weaver. He taught in the Ridgefield, New Milford and West Hartford school systems, and was a district history supervisor for 23 years. He has taught at the university level for 20 years. He is co-author, with Sarah Griswold of The First Congregational Church of Woodbury, Connecticut: 350 Years of Faith, Fellowship, and Service” (2020) as well as articles and book reviews for the Connecticut History Review. He has presented papers at meetings of The Association for the Study of Connecticut History, the Historical Society of the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Church Historical Society of Canada.