NAME _______________________________________________ CLASS ___________________ DATE _________________
VISUAL LEARNING
New York’s Speakeasies
In 1929 the police commissioner of New York
ordered his men to count the number of
speakeasies in New York City. They counted
32,000, which was considered a low estimate.
Some speakeasies were in fashionable pent
houses, others in tenements and rooming
houses. There was a speakeasy that catered
to every economic class. To gain access to the
speakeasy, a person simply needed to know
the proper word(s), be introduced by someone, or have a card. Below is a card that was
issued by a speakeasy. As you study the card,
try to determine which kind of speakeasy the
card represented.
© Pearson Education, Inc., publishing as Prentice Hall.
1. What on the card might tell you it was issued by a speakeasy?
2. What do you think the abundance of speakeasies says about how people
regarded Prohibition?
Chapter 20 Survey Edition
Chapter 13 Modern American History Edition
Visual Learning
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