The Crusade Against “White Slavery”
With the growth of large cities, prostitution was a major cause of concern in the Progressive Era. Though the number of sex workers per capita in the United States was probably declining by 1900, the presence of red light districts was obvious; thousands of young women (as well as a smaller number of young men) were exploited in the sex trade. This image appeared in The Great War on White Slavery, published by the American Purity Foundation in 1911. It illustrates how immigrant women could be ensnared in the sex trade by alleged “friends” who offered them work. Reformers’ denunciations of “white slavery” show an overt racial bias: while antiprostitution campaigners reported on the exploitation of Asian and African American women, the victimization of white women received the greatest emphasis and most effectively grabbed the attention of prosperous, middle-class Americans. From The Great War on White Slavery, by Clifford G. Roe, 1911. Courtesy Vassar College Special Collections.