Source: WUNC, 1/14/20


Even before the Civil War, the North Carolina General Assembly was reckoning with prohibition. Women led the charge against drinking mostly through church organizations and behind-the-scenes political advocacy. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union bemoaned alcohol’s effect on the family before they were swept off the stage by North Carolina’s Anti-Saloon League, which condemned taverns and saloons for their central role in union organizing. The two-part movement pulled the Old North State to prohibit the sale and distribution of alcohol in 1909.

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