Federal Writers' Project – Life Histories/2021/Spring/105i/Section 24/Clara Garber

Overview
Clara Garber was white woman from Tennessee. She was a bootlegger in Tennessee during the 1930s. She was interviewed by the Federal Writer's Project on December 19th, 1938.

Personal Life
Garber was born on an unknown date in Tennessee. Little is known about her early life. She was married young and had a child with her first husband. Her child, who she called Sonny Boy, suffered infantile paralysis at the age of two, and had been immobile and unable to speak since. Garber contacted the government in an attempt to recieve financial aid to help with Sonny Boy's disabilities, but was denied. Garber remarried shortly after to Shin Badgett. Badgett was wounded in World War 1, and was receiving government aid of $28 a month until 1933. Due to his injuries and alcoholism, Badgett was unable to have a job. Though Garber and Badgett divorced a few years into their marriage, Garber continued to take care of Badgett. Garber, though a bootlegger, never drank, and considered herself a religious person according to an interview with the Federal Writers Project, but never went to church. Instead, she took Sundays off from her business.

Career
Garber began her bootlegging career in 1929, and, as she said in her interview, it paid well and allowed her time to take care of her son and ex-husband. Garber’s customers were primarily men of a variety of statuses. However, many were veterans of World War 1. Garber was a female bootlegger, and she discussed how her gender was an advantage. Police were less skeptical of women during this time. Garber had a thick pad lock on her door, and she said in the time it would take for the police to break in she could pour her supply down the drain. At the time of her interview, she had not been arrested once. The date of Garber's death is unknown.

Federal Aid for Disabilities in the US
During the Great Depression Era, people with disabilities were excluded from the workplace and from schools, leaving most without sources of income. Many injured veterans from World War 1 were included in this group. Multiple community efforts to aid those with disabilities or with disabled children were organized in the early 1930s, including the founding of The Council for the Retarded Child in Cuyahoga County, Ohio and New York City’s League for the Physically Handicapped. Without government aid and legislation, many were only effective for communities involved.

In 1935, the Social Security Act was signed into law. However, it was not until 1956 when the act was amended to include disability benefits, establishing the Social Security Disability Insurance Program. This legislation provided cash benefits to applicants with disabilities who met special requirements and who were between the ages of 50 and 64. Adults who had a disability before that began before the age of 18 were also allotted these benefits. Before this act and others were established to aid with children and adults with disabilities, injured veterans who were unable to work did not qualify for financial benefits. Post-World War 1, Karl S. Marx established the organization Disabled Veterans of the World War (DAV). The DAV worked to spread awareness about veterans with disabilities, both mental and physical, and encouraged the government to help with veterans' reintegration into society. Their efforts led to the establishment of the United States Veteran's Bureau, now known as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Additionally, the American Red Cross opened an institution to help train amputees and other injured individuals, mainly victims of World War 1.

Female Bootlegging
As Prohibition ended the sale of liquor in the United States, people began smuggling alcohol from foreign countries, a term coined as "bootlegging". This practice was more complex than crime seen in the U.S. before, thus establishing organized crime, leading to gangs and high profile criminals such as Al Capone.

Bootlegging in the 1930's had many advantages for women, and federal officials believe more bootleggers were female than male. Multiple U.S states had laws that prevented law enforcement from searching women. Additionally, juries were unlikely to convict mothers for bootlegging.

Prohibition had created tension amongst a variety of women. On one hand, prohibition had been widely encouraged by women, especially by members of Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). On the other, many women only made income either by bootlegging or as speakeasy waitresses.

World War 1 Veterans and Prohibition
After World War 1, many veterans suffered from PTSD, anxiety, and depression. According to an article by the University of North Carolina, studies show that veterans have "higher rates of substance‐related disorders among veterans compared to the general population", making many veterans customers to bootleggers post World War 1. By the 1930s, many songs had been written describing veteran's unhealthy relationship with alcohol along with their resentment towards prohibition.