The White Slave Trade: Interesting Tidbits
Note to Dr. Williams: I definitely read on the syllabus that you couldn't post two or more blogs the week of Fall Break rather than the week before. It's s why I waited so long to start posting weekly blogs. I apologize, it's totally on me.
The White Slave Trade: Interesting Tidbits
The White Slave Trade was a historical hysteria surrounding the moral panic about the forced prostitution and trafficking of white women and girls by foreign or especially shady men. After discussing in class, I did some further research to find three interesting tidbits about it.
- The panic did not originate in America. Prior to the stateside hysteria, Belgium underwent a crisis in the 1880s---referred to as Affaire des petites Anglaises---exposing a sex-trafficking ring involving around fifty foreign girls sent to illegally work in Brussels brothels. The massive outrage attracted international infamy and ended in the resignation of both the Brussels mayor and the head of the city's police force, especially once knowledge had been unearthed that authorities may have been complicit in the trafficking. The global outcry led to more public interest in the issue, and the seeds for the White Slave Trade hysteria were sown.
- Numerous celebrities were prosecuted, and in some cases, even convicted under the Mann Act, which felonized interstate or foreign transport of women for "immoral purposes." In reality, the wording of this act allowed for a lot of leeway in its application, including the racist and politically-motivated prosecutions of so-called "Undesirables," mainly high-profile black men and those holding far left political views. World heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, who was black, was convicted solely because he married Lucille Cameron, a white woman, in 1912. Likewise, Charlie Chaplin, believed to be a Communist sympathizer, was prosecuted for a premarital relationship with a 24-year woman, for whom he bought a train ticket back to her home across state lines, technically violating the interstate transport part of the Mann Act. Guitarist Chuck Berry, also African-American, was prosecuted for paying for the transportation of an underage Apache girl across state lines.
- The FBI was established in 1908 as the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) by Attorney General Charles Bonaparte, who hired 34 individuals, including former Secret Service agents, to form the first investigative task force for the Department of Justice. Interestingly enough, their first official task was to survey prostitution houses in preparation for the enforcement of the Mann Act. Mann Act prosecutions became a key source of casework for the fledgling bureau, giving the apparatus numerous tasks to accomplish. Essentially, the trafficking panic shaped the early days of the FBI's federal policing policies.
Sources:
Cool Other Thing I Found:
If you're interested in neat pulp fiction-style posters depicting the White Slave Trade hysteria, I suggest browsing this collection by Bonhams. They look pretty cool.
Another really great response, thanks. And thanks for the research, which impressed me. You are right that the hysteria first erupted in in Europe and then came to the US (similar to the US persecuting supposed witches). I should have mentioned this, but in my mind the hysteria went so much further in the US, which had an army of moral crusaders ready to take up the cause. The White Slavery Act, now known as the Mann Act, indeed persecuted individuals like Charlie Chaplin and Chuck Berry. Berry is an even better example, a Black rock and roll singer prosecuted for relationships with white women. Prosecutions under the Mann Act often involved mixed-race couples. Loved your tidbits.
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