Driving down any interstate highway, or major road, one will find tributes to family members who have lost their lives as a result of drunk driving. These road markers are an ongoing reminder that too much alcohol consumption is not good for anyone’s health. These contemporary soldiers in the fight against alcohol abuse are benign in their work compared to their 19th century predecessors, the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) which sought to stamp out the production, distribution, sale, and consumption of demon rum in whatever form it took. Today’s rhetoric has taken on new forms but the message remains: alcohol abuse disrupts and destroys families. Prohibitionists, such as the WCTU, argued for godliness, industry, sobriety, and thrift—characteristics that some would argue help relegate the underclasses to a constant state of low income with alcohol to relieve the pain and pressures.
The WCTU waged war on manufacturers, bars, and distributors of alcohol in an attempt to thwart its use arguing that demon rum not only disrupted family life but it was not a characteristic of godliness nor any other positive attribute. Members of the WCTU saw their mission in life as one of vocation and service to God and community.
Using archival materials from the Erie County Historical Society, newspapers, and secondary sources, this paper will examine the history of the WCTU on the national and regional level by looking specifically at how the Erie, Pennsylvania chapter waged war at the local level.
About the presenterJerra Jenrette
Jerra Jenrette is Professor of History in the Department of History, Politics, Languages, and Cultures at Edinboro University. Her areas of expertise include US women’s history, labor, Christianity, popular culture, and Latin America. Most recently she has been researching women and war and anticipates a chapter in a forthcoming book on North Carolina During WWWI; Her chapter focuses on women on the warfront. The expected publication date is 2018 from the University of Tennessee Press.