Prohibition

FAIN: GI-50430-12

National Constitution Center (Philadelphia, PA 19106-1514)
Stephanie Reyer (Project Director: August 2011 to March 2016)

Implementation of a multiformat project about the history of Prohibition in America.

The National Constitution Center seeks support to produce a major full-scale traveling exhibition, complementary traveling panel exhibition, and related programs on the history and legacies of Prohibition in America. The project's interpretive goal is to immerse viewers in the context and experience of Prohibition--which took effect with the 18th Amendment in 1920 and was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933--in order to show that the era cannot be reduced to familiar romanticized images of the Roaring '20s, nor can it be dismissed as a constitutional hiccup. The period saw extraordinary revolutions in manners, behavior, and the role of the federal government--social and political transformations whose legacies continue to shape nearly every aspect of modern life. The exhibition's core message is that understanding the history of Prohibition can illuminate contemporary American culture in fascinating and unexpected ways.