Making the Bible Belt: Texas Prohibitionists and the Politicization of Southern Religion

Locke is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Houston-Victoria.. About the AuthorJoseph L

Into the twentieth century, a robust anticlerical tradition still challenged religious forays into southern politics. The decades-long religious crusade to close saloons and outlaw alcohol in the South absorbed the energies of southern churches and thrust religious leaders headlong into the political process--even as their forays into southern politics were challenged at every step. Frank Norris and Senator Morris Sheppard, the "Father of National Prohibition." Exploring the controversies surrounding the religious support of prohibition in Texas, Making the Bible Belt reconstructs the purposeful, decades-long campaign to politicize southern religion, hints at the historical origins of the religious right, and explores a compelling and transformative moment in American history.. Making the Bible Belt upends notions of a longstanding, stable marriage between political religion and the American South. Through the politics of prohibition, and in the face of bitter resistance, a complex but shared commitment to expanding the power and scope of religion transformed southern evangelicals' inward-looking restr

Joseph L. Locke is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Houston-Victoria.