Prohibitionist forces capitalized on the notoriety of the 1906 Atlanta Race Massacre, blaming liquor for the violence and using the episode as leverage in the fight for statewide prohibition. Many white southerners saw prohibition as a solution to the region’s “Negro Problem.” When coupled with the gubernatorial victory of prohibitionist candidate Hoke Smith, the riot emboldened legislators to propose a bill banning the sale of spirits statewide. After lengthy debate, the bill passed, and Governor Smith signed the legislation outlawing the sale or manufacture of alcohol in public or at any place of business. The Atlanta Constitution reported that church bells rang out, and supportive crowds took to the streets, rejoicing in song. Georgia was the first southern state to go dry. By 1915, seven other states in the region had enacted statewide prohibition.
Legislative passage of prohibition was a triumph for temperance forces in Georgia, but the bill proved to be riddled with loopholes. Private locker clubs escaped closure by serving alcohol only to their members, while saloons offered near-beer to the less affluent. Upset by legal sidestepping, prohibitionists pressured Governor John Slaton into calling a special legislative session in 1915 to eliminate the locker-club provision, to prohibit mail-order advertisements for alcohol, and to bar the importation of liquor via the so-called jug train.
After the repeal of national prohibition in 1933, various groups in the state organized and lobbied for statewide repeal, hoping to generate much-needed tax revenue. Some argued for responsible regulation and taxation of alcohol as a means of raising funds to aid Georgia’s struggling schools. Nevertheless, staunch dry forces insisted that statewide prohibition be upheld in the name of morality. Facing an economic crisis, Governor Eugene Talmadge reluctantly signed the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act on March 22, 1935, calling for a statewide referendum on the issue of repeal. A vote was held that May granting the State Revenue Commission the right to establish new regulations regarding the manufacture and sale of alcohol. In 1938 Governor E. D. Rivers signed the Revenue Tax Act to Legalize and Control Alcoholic Beverages and Liquors, nullifying all remaining statewide prohibition statutes.
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