Mississippi Moonshine Politics

For most states, the repeal of prohibition meant a return to a state of legally drunken normalcy, but not so in Mississippi. The Magnolia State went dry over a decade before the nation, leaving bootleggers to establish political and financial holds they were unwilling to lose. For nearly sixty years, bootlegging flourished, and Mississippi became known as the “wettest dry state in the country.” Law enforcement tried in vain to control crime that followed each empty bottle. Until statewide prohibition was finally repealed in 1966, illegal booze fueled a corrupt political machine that intimidated journalists who dared to speak against it and fixed juries that threatened its interests. Author and native Mississippian Janice Branch Tracy delivers an intimate look at the story of Mississippi’s moonshine empire.

Author Biography

Janice Branch Tracy is a sixth generation Mississippian and author of The Juke Joint King of the Mississippi Hill s(History Press, 2014). Raised in Jackson, Mississippi, after graduating from Central High School and after that the University of Mississippi, Janice led a thirty-year career with the U.S. Government. After retiring in Dallas, Texas she started the Mississippi Memories blog, named one of the Top 40 Genealogy Blogs by Family Tree Magazine in 2011 and again in 2013.