Whiskey, Women, and War: How the Great War Shaped Jim Crow New Orleans (Hardback)

by Brian Altobello

Overview

As the US entered World War I in 1917, a burst of patriotism in New Orleans collided with civil liberties. The city, due to its French heritage, shared a strong cultural tie to the Allies, and French speakers from Louisiana provided vital technical assistance to the US military during the war effort. Meanwhile, citizens of German heritage were harassed by unscrupulous, ill-trained volunteers of the American Protective League, ordained by the Justice Department to shield America from enemies within. As a major port, the wartime mobilization dramatically reshaped the cultural landscape of the city in ways that altered the national culture, especially as jazz musicians spread outward from the vice districts.

Whiskey, Women, and War: How the Great War Shaped Jim Crow New Orleans surveys the various ways the city confronted the demands of World War I under the supervision of a dynamic political machine boss. Author Brian Altobello analyzes the mobilization of the local population in terms of enlistments and war bond sales and addresses the anti-vice crusade meant to safeguard the American war effort, giving attention to Prohibition and the closure of the red-light district known as Storyville. He studies the political fistfight over women's suffrage, as New Orleans's Gordon sisters demanded the vote predicated on the preservation of white supremacy. Finally, he examines race relations in the city, as African Americans were integrated into the city's war effort and cultural landscape even as Jim Crow was firmly established. Ultimately, the volume brings to life this history of a city that endured World War I in its own singular style.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496835093
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	08/01/2021
Edition description:	Hardback ed.
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	1,119,979
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction 3

Chapter 1 The Scent of War 9

Chapter 2 La Nouvelle-Orléans 18

Chapter 3 "Abandoned to Lewdness" 29

Chapter 4 "That Barbaric Throb" 39

Chapter 5 Rex, Comus, and the War's Approach 49

Chapter 6 Answering Behrman's Call 64

Chapter 7 "Buy Bonds or Bye Bye Liberty" 87

Chapter 8 "First I Want to Handle Reverse Gear" 97

Chapter 9 "Neither Hyphens nor Slackers among Us" 104

Chapter 10 "We Were among Wolves" 117

Chapter 11 Hunting Witches: The American Protective League 135

Chapter 12 New Orleans: No "Puritan Mother" 152

Chapter 13 Suffrage: "Hearing the Click" 174

Chapter 14 Wielding the "Sword of Righteousness" 194

Epilogue 205

Appendixes 216

Notes 220

Bibliography 241

Index 258