Old Pros: The Mann Act a.k.a. The White Slave Law

Enacted in 1910, the Mann Act, commonly referred to as the White Slave Law, was a response to the “white slave panic” of the late 19th and early 20th century. Sold to the American public as a way of protecting vulnerable women, this law prohibited the transportation of women across state lines and was overwhelmingly used to prosecute consensual interracial relationships and extramarital affairs.

The Mann Act emerged during a period of heightened social anxieties about immigration, recently emancipated Black Americans, and new technology that increased women’s mobility and access to waged labor. Much of this anxiety was a reaction to mass immigration into cities, from other countries and more rural places. Fueled by sensationalist media and fictional movies, many Americans believed that “Russian Jews” were “supplying” brothels with girls who had been kidnapped or tricked into commercial and interracial sex. Many of these Americans made no distinction between promiscuity and prostitution. This moral panic targeted everything from bicycles to brothels. Bicycles allowed women to go places and do things, and according to fevered imaginations at the time, stimulated ladies in unladylike ways.

The Mann Act emerged during a period of heightened social anxieties about immigration, recently emancipated Black Americans, and new technology...

Driven by the debunked beliefs that interstate prostitution networks were both organized and flourishing, politicians seized upon the "crisis" for political gain. The district attorney in Chicago, claimed to have proof of a nationwide white slavery ring. Although he was never able to produce this evidence, his friend James Robert Mann, chairman of the powerful House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, quickly drafted a bill to show the public that Congress was doing something about the "crisis." Much of the testimony and evidence presented came from pulp fiction novels and the conflation of women participating in night life and the newly emerging dating culture with being violently kidnapped.

Introduced in Congress in June 1909, the bill was quickly passed with little opposition and President William Howard Taft signed it into law that same month. Similar to laws like FOSTA/SESTA, legislators across political parties united to “protect girls”, not from poverty or domestic violence, but from the mostly imaginary problem of “immigrants,” “immorality,” and consensual interracial relationships.  

Much of the wording for the Mann Act was drawn from the 1875 Page Act, and later the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned the "any alien [specifically Chinese] woman or girl from immigrating to the United States for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose." The act claimed to protect vulnerable women, however in practice this law did not protect anyone. It only served to bar Chinese women from immigrating to the United States. 

The act claimed to protect vulnerable women, however in practice this law did not protect anyone.

The law’s broad language created opportunities for authorities to wield it as a tool to prosecute consensual sexual relationships. In particular, Black men found themselves disproportionately targeted and unfairly accused of “transporting” white women across state lines for immoral purposes. One of the law's first targets was Jack Johnson, a hugely popular heavyweight boxer who dated and married a white woman. He was arrested twice under the Mann Act.

The Supreme Court dramatically widened the scope of the Mann Act in Caminetti v. United States. In 1913, Drew Caminetti and a friend, Maury Diggs, (both married and having affairs) took their mistresses by train from Sacramento, CA to Reno, NV. Their betrayed wives tipped off the police, and both men were arrested upon their arrival in Reno. Caminetti and Diggs were tried and found guilty. The case was then appealed to the Supreme Court and Justice William R. Day wrote for the majority that the language of the Act clearly included extramarital affairs as an example of “immoral purpose.”

In effect this interpretation criminalized all premarital or extramarital sexual relationships that involved interstate travel. This gave federal prosecutors a weapon that could very easily be abused in order to prosecute "undesirables" who were otherwise law-abiding citizens. The Mann Act became a potent weapon in perpetuating racial prejudice and discrimination. Fueled by deeply ingrained biases, authorities manipulated the law to assert control over the intimate relationships between consenting adults. This not only reinforced racial and gender stereotypes, but also created a climate of fear and persecution for interracial couples. 

The Mann Act became a potent weapon in perpetuating racial prejudice and discrimination.

FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover used the law to target left-of-center artists and advocates, including actor Charlie Chaplin, who was charged with a Mann Act violation regarding a paternity suit in 1944. Like Jack Johnson, Chaplin fled the country to escape these politically motivated charges.

​​The Mann Act has never been repealed, but it has been substantially amended in recent years. In 1978, Congress updated the definition of "transportation" in the act, and added protection for minors of either sex against commercial sexual exploitation. A 1986 amendment further protected minors and added protection for adult males, and replaced "debauchery" and "any other immoral purpose" with "any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense."

In light of recent federal legislation aimed at “protecting” women and children from sexual exploitation, it’s important to understand how these laws have been applied in the past so we can make better choices in the future.