Every 50 years the American society seemed to change a bit. As we go back in time, in 2000, the liberal society created new images and definitions of what a man and a woman is rather than what a man and a woman should be. This form of life style allowed people to accept new ideas that would create a better society. In 1950, the house-wife and organizational man created the “American Dream,” a dream in which people wanted to hold on to create “perfection,” and the maintainability of status quo of each gender. The American Dream followed a format which was three and a half children, a wife, and a husband. Only men were allowed to work while their spouses would be home maintaining the house and children. In 1900, the patriarchal society created fear, only men have the strength to work and keep a family together. Women never had the same privileges as men, which obscured the minds of others from accepting new ideas of what if. This unfair society created stereotypes that defined a type of person, and because of it, society created images that represented each of them, because men were manipulative and controlling, women feared to speak their minds. This increased the ideologies of patriarchalism, and kept the status of good girl vs. bad girl. If women went against the “rules” they were considered to be promiscuous and dirty. But if they obeyed to everything that a man says, they were considered to be a true woman. However, because men had more freedom, every Friday night they would go out drinking with their co-workers as a reward after working so hard. Most of the times they would drink until they were drunk or until there was no more money left causing terrible nights for their spouses. Men became abusive, and women became submissive.
This alcohol problem was not affecting only women, it was also affecting slaveholders. Men who owned slaves were afraid to give alcohol to Negroes, especially in the South, since they “feared that alcohol cause[d] black people to be crazy.” (PBS) This fear created arguments whether the consumption of alcohol should be illegal or not but since the government “rel[ied] on alcohol taxes” (PBS) they couldn’t do anything about it. However, due to the consistent conflicts, the 18th amendment came through and put a stop to the consumption and selling of alcohol. Having this ban established nationally, the government believed this would improve the American society, which purpose was to reduce poverty, consumption of alcohol, crime, and death rates. Even though some indicates that the prohibition was a failure, it was a good timing for the African-Americans and the economy. The Prohibition affected positively both Negroes and economy.
With an increase of population from the Great Migration, many African-Americans tried to settle a new life in the cities but due to the frequent denial of good jobs, bank loans, education opportunities, housing, and social treatments, they turned into gambling, prostitutions, robbery and thievery just to get the same priorities. These created gangs and mafias disturbing the unfair economy in the American society. One of the mobsters that helped the African-Americans was Casper Holstein. Holstein was involved in the Harlem illegal lottery during the Harlem Renaissance, who was also responsible for bringing back illegal gambling.
While working on Wall Street Holstein became familiar with the stock market… He donated some of his earnings to humanitarian enterprises. He financed dormitories at Southern black colleges and supplemented the income of a number of Harlem Renaissance artists and supported impoverished Harlem children. (Black Past)
Even though it was illegal to participate in such activities, Holstein did it for the community and to support himself. Also, because Holstein had a good job, gambling became more of a hobby and easy way get money for the people needed. Those African-Americans that did not have access to good jobs relied on the jobs that Holstein offered at clubs and other business enterprises in which later on he becomes "Harlem's favorite hero, because of his wealth, his sporting proclivities and his philanthropies among the people of his race.” (Black Past)
Some African-Americans might have found easy “jobs” and taken advantage of the Prohibition to participate in gangs; however, others took advantage of their talent and found jobs in the music field. Jazz and Blues were the biggest music genres during the Harlem Renaissance that portrayed their past and present lives. Although the Blues was foreign for the Northern African-Americans, this new style caught the attention of others and it was introduced to a bigger public.
"The blues was taken into a new relationship with its folk cultural origins; the blues singer -- at least the women singers of the 1920s -- was no longer an ordinary member of black society singing the songs of working people or playing for local dances. They were set up on stage, watched and listened to from afar, using every trick and stage device to 'present' their songs." (Calliope)
Once the African-Americans saw the opportunities that Harlem provided, Harlem became “the center of a flowering of black culture known as the Harlem Renaissance.” (NYSPI) The Negro culture started to emerge from their submissive position and started to change those ideas that created an African-American. But what also impacted this community was the economy. In the 1920s, the economy during the Prohibition rose illegally, in which the money came from bootleggers, speakeasies, and saloons. Moreover, The city itself during the Prohibition became more popular than ever and people from farms moved to the city.
The 1920s were an age of dramatic social and political change. For the first time, more Americans lived in cities than on farms. The nation’s total wealth more than doubled between 1920 and 1929, and this economic growth swept many Americans into an affluent but unfamiliar “consumer society”… Many Americans were uncomfortable with this new, urban, sometimes racy “mass culture”; in fact, for many–even most–people in the United States, the 1920s brought more conflict than celebration. However, for a small handful of young people in the nation’s big cities, the 1920s were roaring indeed. (History)
This new “consumer society” during the Prohibition was mainly because of gangs and mafias that provided the “needs” that people wanted. Even though the Prohibition was set in the government, the people instead of following this law, they went against it. “To pass the law in the real world means nothing; to enforce the law means everything.” (Feldman) The reaction from these people was to flaunt their freedom of drinking, demonstrating how a law cannot stop them from doing those things that creates an American. Americans used alcohol as a representation of their manhood, and in order to stop them, the government needs more than a law. However, those that kept the bars and clubs had a password in order to have access to their facilities. With this format, more people drank illegally and the money went to mobsters.
Many mobsters became wealthy during Prohibition, such as Dutch Schultz, Moe Dalitz, Charles “King” Solomon, Abner “Longy” Zwillman, etc. This amount of money did not go for the government because it was illegal. All the money coming from the selling of alcohol went to gangs and mafias; however, because this was doing well it started to create wars among gangs. Competition increased and the need to find other sources to approach the liquor increased as well. Having this competitive mind increased crime rate, which caused Police funding increased by $11.4 Million, arrests for for violations increased by 102%, arrests for drunkenness and disorderly conduct increased by 41%, arrests of drunken drivers increased by 81%, thefts and burglaries increased by 9%, homicides, assault, and battery increased by 13%, number of Federal Convicts increased by 561%, Federal prison population increased by 366%, total of Federal expenditures on penal Institutions increased by 1,000%, (The Great Experiment)
Even though the Prohibition was a failure, it was still beneficial for the people’s economy. The making of illegal alcohol served the people tremendously, and since the Americans were in desperate need of alcohol, the alcohol was sold at a really high price. With this new business, it helped the people to get easy money. This reflects the Blues in which the people, especially the African-Americans, after coming from the South they had nowhere to go or ready to embark this new journey but the fact that they had made it to the North gives the hope of a new life.
Rather than an exhalation of despair or resignation, the spirit of the blues is the spirit of confrontation and transformation, often through an alchemical rendering of pain and humor. To witness the performance of a blues artist observing the formal aspects of the art in confronting a painful life experience – articulating it in improvised statements that achieve immediate and powerful group recognition and negotiating each statement’s just resolution in keeping with the restraints of the tradition – is to experience the healing power of creative expression. (Patterson, 2)
Metaphorically, the life of the African-Americans represented the blues in which they are moving up for a better path in their lives. Going to the North represents their “confrontation and transformation” of their past. Confronting the reality that has been oppressing them for a long time, and once they’re free, they have transformed their skin and put their soul as the cover. Although joining gangs is not the best option, it helped negotiate the landscape and see what is right or wrong for them. The economy also went back and forth reflecting how the Blues could help a bit but it is not fully fixed, which worked as a catharsis; it released some of the struggles but it did not wash everything away.
The Prohibition, for both African-Americans and economy, served as the Blues in which it did not completely affected them. Negroes finding easy “jobs” helped gain easy money; however, because of the war between gangs, African-Americans didn’t have a better life. Instead, their lives in gangs created a dangerous reputation for the society. This might work as a representation of power which people are afraid to oppress them once again. On the other side, the economy was not fully improved but it did work best for some people indicating how the Blues does not always work because it is a matter of how the Blues are expressed. Even though the Prohibition did not alter these two key factors as much as it did to the society, both African-Americans and economy made people realized how important these two are in order to create the American society.
Reference
Gary, Mardee Reagan. The Book of Bourbon. Houghton Mifflin Harcout Publishing Company. 1998. Print
“Harlem.” New York State Psychiatrist Institute. 2011. Web. 26 November 2011.
Harper, Douglas. “Exclusion of Free Blacks.” Slavery in the North. 2003. Web. 26 November 2011.
“Mobsters, Mayhem & Murder.” The Magazine Times. 2009. Web. 26 November 2011.
Nash, Tim. “Organized Crime in the 1920’s.” The Finer Times. 2011. Web. 26 November 2011.
Patterson, Raymond. “A Note on the Blues.” Course Park FIQWS 10027: The Blues Aesthetic. New York. 1982. Print.
Prohibition. Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. PBS. 2011
“The Roaring Twenties.” History. 2010. Web. 26 November 2011.
Watson, Elwood. “Casper Holstein (1876-1944).” Black Past. 2007. Web. 26 November 2011.
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