Use Restrictions

Public Domain. There are no known restrictions.

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Preferred Citation

"The Black Traffic in White Girls" booklet, C0410, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Acquisition Information

Purchased by Lynn Eaton in April 2019.

Processing Information

Processing completed by Amanda Menjivar in September 2022. Finding aid completed by Amanda Menjivar in September 2022.

Historical Information

The racist and propagandist idea of "white slavery" (sometimes called "forced prostitution") was particularly prominent in turn of the century Chicago, Illinois. Nativist racism, or "a policy of favoring native inhabitants as opposed to immigrants" (Merriam Webster), was being perpetuated due to a rise in the Black population of the city.

According to the book "White Slave Crusades" by Brian Donovan, "In the early twentieth century, Chicago witnessed a tremendous outpouring of concern over the white slavery issue, and many white slavery narratives focused on the vice trade" (59). Donovan established that one of the greatest proponents and influencers of this idea was attorney Clifford Roe, who "argued that immigrants were fundamentally distinct from native-born whites. He located the source of white slavery in the moral failing of immigrants and drew a connection between foreignness and criminality" (Donovan 57). By the 1910s, the white slavery panic had died down and was replaced with the pressing issues of World War I.

Scope and Content

Content warning: contains racist statements and ideology, as well as nude imagery.

A booklet titled "The Black Traffic in White Girls," published circa 1904 in Chicago by an unknown publisher. The booklet expresses racist and propagandist rhetoric about "white slavery" and the supposed human trafficking of white girls by people of color. The booklet also contains black and white images of paintings depicting nude white women.

Arrangement

This is a single item collection.

Related Material

The Special Collections Research Center holds other materials on propagandist movements and ideas.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Human trafficking
• Propaganda