THE WASHERWOMAN’S REPLY

Lyons Transportation Lines Stationery

[Social History / Black Americana] c.1930 Prohibition Era - "Wet vs Dry" Manuscript Anecdote

PROHIBITION ERA ‘WET VS DRY’ MANUSCRIPT ON ART DECO TRUCKING STATIONERY — A SHARP, SUBVERSIVE GLIMPSE INTO RACE, CLASS, AND TEMPERANCE-ERA AMERICA.

A handwritten vernacular manuscript on Art Deco trucking stationery, capturing a satirical dialogue between a white liquor seller's wife and a Black washerwoman. The text offers a sharp, ironic commentary on the economics of the Temperance movement, flipping the power dynamic between employer and employee.

Key Features:
+++ Visuals: Handwritten in blue ink on a single folded sheet of 'Lyons Transportation Lines' stationery, featuring the company's striking red and black Art Deco logo ('Here Today... There Tomorrow!').

+++ Content: A transcribed joke/anecdote about a town voting 'Dry.' A white woman laments she can no longer afford her washerwoman if her husband's saloon closes. The Black washerwoman retorts that if the saloon closes, her own husband won't waste money on drink, allowing her to hire the white woman instead: 'We'll have plenty, and you Can Come and do our Washing.'

+++ Cultural Context: [Cataloguer's Note] This item contains dialect and racial tropes typical of the era. It is presented here as a documentary artifact of 1930s social attitudes, specifically how race and class intersected with the politics of Prohibition.
+++ Format: Single sheet, commercial bond paper, folded into quarters.

Physical Specs:
+++ Date: Circa 1930 (based on 'Wet/Dry' voting context and stationery style).
+++ Dimensions: 5.25 x 8.5 inches (unfolded).
+++ Format: Handwritten manuscript on commercial letterhead.

Condition Report:
Very Good -- Light handling wear and original fold lines from storage (likely carried in a pocket). Ink remains legible and bright. No tears or losses.

Historical Significance —
This ephemeral manuscript captures the intense social debate surrounding Prohibition (and its repeal) through the lens of vernacular humor.

While the text employs the phonetic dialect common to white-authored "Black jokes" of the early 20th century, the punchline is surprisingly subversive. It presents a common Temperance argument—that alcohol kept the working class (and specifically Black families) in poverty—and uses it to invert the racial hierarchy. The washerwoman argues that a "Dry" town signifies economic liberation for her family and a loss of status for the liquor seller.

Written on the back of a Lyons Transportation Lines letterhead (a trucking company active in the Midwest/Mid-Atlantic), this creates a fascinating juxtaposition between the formal business world and the informal, often racially charged, oral culture of the American public during the Great Depression.

Subjects: Prohibition era, Temperance movement, African American labor history, Vernacular manuscripts, Racial caricature in popular culture, American social history, 1930s Americana, Manuscript ephemera.

Item #20887

Price: $65.00