The Crime That Made Texas Go Dry

The Hang Theory. A lecture series by Hang Dallas.

One speaker. One big idea. One good room.

Where · 2700 SWISS Event Space.

Texas went dry before the rest of the country did. Rita Cook walks through the political and moral campaign that pushed statewide prohibition into law, the scandal that turned public opinion, and the ways Dallas and Fort Worth kept drinking anyway. Blind tigers, bootleggers, and bathtub gin kept the taps flowing even after the law said stop. Rita Cook is a freelance writer and historian based in Arlington whose work has appeared in the Washington Times, Dallas Morning News, and Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She co-authored Prohibition in Dallas & Fort Worth: Blind Tigers, Bootleggers and Bathtub Gin and has published four books of local history including A Brief History of Fort Worth.

How the night goes

Doors at 6:30 PM. Claim a seat, settle in.
We kick things off around 6:55 PM.
Rita Cook takes the floor at 7:00 PM.
Questions from the room near 7:45 PM.
Then we linger. Meet the speaker, meet each other, around 8:00 PM.
Out by 8:30 PM.