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.