A digital companion to the biography Becoming Richard Pryor
“Prostitute at window. There are 140 prostitutes in Peoria, average age about twenty-three. Local physicians estimate ninety percent have gonorrhea and seventy-five percent have syphilis. Peoria, Illinois.”
So Arthur Rothstein captioned a 1938 photo, part of the massive photography project undertaken by the Federal Security Administration and Office of War Information between 1935 and 1944.
This photograph was taken two years before Richard Pryor was born into Peoria’s red light district.
Arthur Rothstein, Prostitute at Window (photograph taken May 1938), Farm Security/Office of War Information Black-and-White Negatives, LOT 1094, Lib. of Congress.
Ad Cole, 19th-century madam, brought glamour and audacity to North Washington St.
The street in the red-light district where Marie Pryor settled — and where Peoria's most famous 20th-century madam plied her trade
A brief history of the end of Diamond Lil
Diamond Lil, a black madam in Peoria, was squeezed by the DA but refused to name names
From the famed camera of Arthur Rothstein: a Peoria prostitute peeks out at the street
The block, in the red-light district, where Pryor was raised
An account of the rise and fall of Diamond Lil', a well-connected black madam in 1920s and 1930s Peoria
Federal agents were condemned in Peoria for their violent tactics
Prohibition seemed to many Peorians a violation of fundamental human rights
Early on, Peoria was “the city of high spirits,” a center for the distillery business
From the newspaper of the All-American city, a guided tour of the old “Empire of Vice”
Reformed Peoria looked back at days of gangland kidnappings and murder
Editorial looking back to the “liberal” days of Peoria
Three decades after the decline of Roarin' Peoria, some still missed “the Good Old Days”
The last remains of Prarie Alley were demolished in 1980
In late-1941 Mayor Woodruff and Peoria's city council feuded over the protection of vice in the city
The Jaycees led the attack against the red-light district
The Christian Century editorialized against Peoria as “the sinkhole of midwestern vice”
Illinois's State Attorney stepped in where Peoria's mayor did not, attacking the red-light district
All of Illinois law enforcement was marshalled to stamp out vice in Peoria
After the military threatened a further crackdown, Peoria police took action
The city council urged the Mayor to work with the US Army to fight vice
The health department was empowered to inspect anyone thought to have VD
Ministers called vice “sabotage” and accused Peoria's citizens of thwarting the war effort
A $1000 order of penicillin was urged to combat the city's growing “social problem”
The Pryor family diversified its operations, becoming proud owners of a tavern in the mid-40s
A grand jury widened the crusade against vice to the taverns frequented by prostitutes
Peoria had been “the biggest little wide open town in the Midwest,” but what was next for the city?
Two snappily dressed interracial couples enjoy a night at the Famous Door
An unidentified group — perhaps from the extended Pryor family — standing outside The Famous Door
New Mayor took the profit out of gambling
Collins lost his first tavern to fire, but rebuilt the building and business
The killing of the head of a gambling syndicate, in 1948, gave a huge boost to Peoria's reformers
Richard's father and stepmother, on the town with some sharp-dressed friends
Richard's stepmother Ann, in a happy time and a sophisticated place
A Happy Family in Aiken Alley
Richard's Uncle Dickie was netted in Peoria's first major drug sting in years
Uncle Dickie was arrested with heroin and marijuana, and under suspicion of turning women to prostitution
Jimmy Bell, a band leader at the Famous Door, fled to St. Louis when his partner was caught in drug bust
“Cleaning up Peoria” meant more raids on Bris Collins' place
After 3 years and 2 hung juries, Collins was given the minimum sentence
Joe Eagle, a fellow N. Washington St. brothel owner, was charged with perjury and tax evasion
Collins, labeled as the “racket boss of Peoria,” took a one-year prison term
Whisper Magazine punctured Peoria's reputation as an All-American city
Reform meant a new, professionalized city management, but did not go uncontested
Parker tried to “set things right,” but instead he lost his liquor license
Peoria's Mayor threatened the livelihood of Harold's Club by taking away its liquor license
Mayor Day did everything in his power to shut down Harold Parker's club
When police raided the brothel of Richard's father and stepmother, Buck ran and Ann stayed
Ann, already sick with cancer, was sentenced to jail time for running a brothel
Richard's stepmother Ann, accused in court of being a "madam," was kicked out of a local vocational school
Buck avoided jail time by evading police during a raid
A year after her arrest, Ann's conviction was upheld by 2-1 vote in appeals court
Ann was ultimately sentenced to a year for prostitution, but did not live to serve the term
Buck arrested for 3rd time in as many years for running a brothel
In the year before his death, Buck was still getting arrested in vice squad raids