Hello friends, welcome to episode 7 of our series about prohibition from hatchets to hoods,

the mayhem of a dry America.

When we think about prohibition, we think about the lack of access to alcohol, right?

We're taught about the time period as standalone in US history, as this specific era that

was defined by its strict laws and its clever loopholes.

And when we think about the Great Depression, it too seems like a time that was defined

solely by the stock market crash and the unemployment calamities.

But the truth is that these time periods overlapped.

And then most American households during the final years of prohibition, the pantries

were nearly as empty as the liquor cabinets.

I'm Sharon McMahon, and here's where it gets interesting.

On a great day in early November of 1930 on the South Side of Chicago, a sign appeared in

the window of a seemingly empty building.

It read, free soup, coffee, and donuts for the unemployed.

In the year since Black Tuesday when the stock market crashed, Chicago's hardest hit job

sector, manufacturing, had seen a 50% drop in employment.

Times were tough, and they were getting worse.

The city's emergency relief funds had been completely depleted.

Traditional sources of help like churches and charitable organizations were running on

shoestring budgets themselves.

Not meal for a hungry belly was hard to come by, so naturally, the sign promising free

food for those who couldn't pay became a beacon of hope.

...