Nationally touring exhibition on prohibition opens

During the era of Prohibition, Americans no longer could manufacture, sell, or transport intoxicating beverages from 1920 until 1933. Spirited: Prohibition in America, a new exhibition opening Saturday at the Churchill County Museum explores this tumultuous time in American history, when flappers and suffragists, bootleggers and temperance lobbyists and legends such as Al Capone and Carry Nation took sides in this battle against the bottle.

Organized by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in partnership with Mid-America Arts Alliance in Kansas City, Spirited: Prohibition in America explores the era of Prohibition, when America went "dry." Visitors will learn about the complex issues that led America to adopt Prohibition through the 18th Amendment to the Constitution in 1919 until its repeal through the 21st Amendment in 1933. Through the exhibition, visitors will learn about the amendment process, the changing role of liquor in American culture, Prohibition's impact on the roaring '20s, and the role of women and how current liquor laws vary from state to state.

Spirited: Prohibition in America is based on the exhibition American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition, organized by the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia in collaboration with Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. Spirited has been made possible through NEH on the Road, a special initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It has been adapted and toured by Mid-America Arts Alliance. Founded in 1972, Mid-America Arts Alliance is the oldest regional nonprofit arts organization in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.maaa.org or http://www.nehontheroad.org.