Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2020/Fall/105i/Section 52/Mary "Liza" Miller

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Mary "Liza" Miller[edit | edit source]

Mary "Liza" Miller (born c. 1870) was an African American bootlegger during the Great Depression.[1] She was interviewed for the Federal Writers Project by Douglas Carter on February 9th, 1939 in Asheville, North Carolina.

Biography[edit | edit source]

Miller, the second of eight children, was born (c.1870) roughly 12 miles outside of Asheville, North Carolina. Soon after her birth, the Miller family moved to a new farm within the city limits of Asheville where Miller was raised and lived her entire life.[2]

Miller's father was originally a sharecropper, however he saved enough money to purchase an independent farm in Asheville. Growing up, Miller assisted her father in the fields and hauling logs during the winter time.

At 16 years old, Miller married her unnamed husband who passed away in 1900. Her daughter and grandson both passed away only a few years prior to the Federal Writers' Project interview.[3]

As an adult, Miller lived a relatively luxurious life for an African-American in the 1930's United States. She operated her own business and managed a rented property, allowing her to gain significant socioeconomic status within her community.[4]

Career[edit | edit source]

Working for her father, Miller tended to the family farm and helped haul logs until her marriage (c. 1886).[5]

Miller raised her daughter and tended to the home during her 14 year marriage. However, following the death of her husband, Miller sought employment from her late husband's white, upper class clients. She worked for multiple white families as the maid, cook, and even gardener.[6]

With the implementation of the Prohibition, these same white upperclass families now sought new means of obtaining alcohol. Miller stepped into this role and utilized her social connections to provide these families with alcohol for an increased payment. Eventually, Miller stopped housekeeping and cooking for these families and solely delivered alcohol as her career.[7]

Eventually opening her own speakeasy in her home, Miller established an independent and profitable business. She established a loyal customer base with former clients from her housekeeping occupation; soon enough almost all of the upper class white families were coming to Miller for illicit alcohol.[8]

Following the death of her father and her inheritance of the family farm, Miller elected to rent out the farmland to poor white families.[9] She successfully managed the family farmland as well as her home-operated speakeasy.

Influences of the Prohibition in the Southern US[edit | edit source]

During the late 19th and early 20th century, the American prohibition of alcohol stemmed from increased cultural influence from protestant Christian churches, as well as women's suffrage movements.[10]

Anti-alcohol sentiments arose during the late 1800's as a result of increased medical examination of alcohol's effects on the human mind and body. As early as 1790, Physician Benjamin Rush published studies illustrating the possible physiological and psychological detriments to alcohol consumption.[11]

Literalist interpretations of Christian texts and teachings led protestant parishes in America to condemn the consumption of alcohol. With increased influence over American culture and values, Christian parishes pushed for prohibition of alcohol during the early 20th century.[12]

Women's suffrage groups utilized the movement to promote the redefinition of women in society and prevent domestic abuse. Organizations such as The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), combined the reasonings and evidence of the protestant church with the arguments of the women's suffrage movement to establish the prohibition of alcohol.[13]

In 1919, the 18th amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, thus beginning prohibition in the United States

With little public support and little efficient police enforcement, both nationally and locally, anti-prohibition sentiment in the United States gradually accumulated.[14]

The 21st amendment was ratified in 1933, repealing the 18th amendment, and ending the national prohibition.

Bootlegging in the early 20th century[edit | edit source]

The 18th amendment to the Constitution initiated the United States Prohibition.

Illicit smuggling and distribution of alcohol ensued throughout the south. Production of "moonshine" and other homemade spirits was widely supported by anti-prohibition Southerners. The production and/or distribution of this illicit alcohol was known as bootlegging.[15]

Wealthy upper-class families typically relied on domestic servants and lower class employees to supply alcohol. Demographically, women, and typically African American women composed the domestic employment in the Southern United States.[16] This connection and interclassical relationship provided poor women, and women of color, an opportunity for lucrative employment.

Women's role in bootlegging was significant. "Moonshine Mary" Wazeniak, Bertie Brown, Josephine Doody, and many others drew federal attention and resources to prevent large-scale inter-state trade of contraband.[17]

Federal agencies, namely the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigations), struggled to identify bootlegging operations, let alone police them. Ultimately, several invasive and constitutionally-negligent raids turn public opinion against the FBI and the Federal government.[18]

With stricter policing laws and dissolving prohibition sentiments, bootleggers and speakeasies thrived during the latter end of the Prohibition. Alcohol soon became so accessible that speakeasies and bootleggers operated for all socio-economic classes rather than simply the upper-class.[19]

With the termination of the prohibition in 1933, following the ratification of the 21st amendment to the United States Constitution, Illegal alcohol production shifted to a state matter.[20] With much variance regionally and among states, laws outlining the production, sale, and consumption of alcohol provided regulatory rather than prohibitory measures.

Bootleggers struggled to find employment as their lucrative industry was crushed in 1933.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Folder 317: Carter, Douglas (interview): Mary "Liza" Miller, in the Federal Writers' Project papers #3709, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
  2. ↑ Ibid
  3. ↑ Ibid
  4. ↑ Ibid
  5. ↑ Ibid
  6. ↑ Ibid
  7. ↑ Ibid
  8. ↑ Ibid
  9. ↑ Ibid
  10. ↑ Lewis, Michael. 2015. “The Best Solution to the Liquor Problem: Dispensaries and Profit in the Pre-Prohibition South.” The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs, 86.
  11. ↑ Ibid
  12. ↑ Onion, Rebecca. “How Prohibition Gave Rise to Prejudiced Policing, the Penal System, and the Right Wing.” Slate Magazine, December 11, 2015. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/12/prohibition-history-how-the-ban-on-booze-produced-the-modern-american-right.html
  13. ↑ Grygo, John. “The Hidden History of Women Bootleggers.” UNLV Public History, November 4, 2016. https://www.unlvpublichistory.com/the-hidden-history-of-women-bootleggers.
  14. ↑ Onion, Rebecca. “How Prohibition Gave Rise to Prejudiced Policing, the Penal System, and the Right Wing.”
  15. ↑ Fraser, Max. “Tar Heel Lightnin’: How Secret Stills and Fast Cars Made North Carolina the Moonshine Capital of the World by Daniel S. Pierce.” Journal of Southern History 86, no. 3 (2020): 741–42. https://doi.org/10.1353/soh.2020.0219
  16. ↑ Grygo, John. “The Hidden History of Women Bootleggers.”
  17. ↑ Ibid
  18. ↑ Onion, Rebecca. “How Prohibition Gave Rise to Prejudiced Policing, the Penal System, and the Right Wing.”
  19. ↑ Ibid
  20. ↑ Stewart, Bruce E. “Lisa Lindquist Dorr. A Thousand Thirsty Beaches: Smuggling Alcohol from Cuba to the South during Prohibition.” The American Historical Review 125, no. 2 (April 1, 2020): 662–63. https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhz755.

Bibliography[edit | edit source]

Folder 317: Carter, Douglas (interview): Mary "Liza" Miller, in the Federal Writers' Project papers #3709, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Fraser, Max. “Tar Heel Lightnin’: How Secret Stills and Fast Cars Made North Carolina the Moonshine Capital of the World by Daniel S. Pierce.” Journal of Southern History 86, no. 3 (2020): 741–42. https://doi.org/10.1353/soh.2020.0219

Grygo, John. “The Hidden History of Women Bootleggers.” UNLV Public History, November 4, 2016. https://www.unlvpublichistory.com/the-hidden-history-of-women-bootleggers.

Lewis, Michael. 2015. “The Best Solution to the Liquor Problem: Dispensaries and Profit in the Pre-Prohibition South.” The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 29 (January): 75–91. https://doi.org/10.1086/29010075

Onion, Rebecca. “How Prohibition Gave Rise to Prejudiced Policing, the Penal System, and the Right Wing.” Slate Magazine, December 11, 2015. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/12/prohibition-history-how-the-ban-on-booze-produced-the-modern-american-right.html

Stewart, Bruce E. “Lisa Lindquist Dorr. A Thousand Thirsty Beaches: Smuggling Alcohol from Cuba to the South during Prohibition.” The American Historical Review 125, no. 2 (April 1, 2020): 662–63. https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhz755.

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