The Mann Act
By: Dina Pobudanovic
In the early 20th
century when “young, single women moved to the city and entered the workforce
they were no longer protected by the traditional family-centered system of
courtship.”[1]
There was a decline of morality as women began working in “tenement houses and
factories” to be able to support themselves, which led to an increase in
prostitution.[2] Because
of this, on June 25, 1910, Congress passed a new law called the Mann Act but it
was also known as the White Slave Traffic Act. James Robert Mann was credited
with the authorship of this law. “The law made it illegal to transport any girl
or women across state lines for any immoral purpose.”[3]
Its primary intent was the address prostitution, immorality, and human
trafficking. However, it was also used to criminalize forms on consensual
sexual behavior.[4]
Women had to sign a “Safety Certificate” that explained who she was and who she
was having sex with, where they were having sex, and when they were having sex.
If this certificate was not filled out then people had probable means to
suspect that the sex was not consensual. 
A very popular story dealing
with the Mann Act had to do with the infamous boxer Jack Johnson. He had been
suspected Johnson had violated the act but it wasn’t until October 11, 1912, “when
Mrs. F. Cameron-Falconet came to Chicago, accusing Johnson of kidnapping her
daughter, Lucille Cameron.”[5]
Johnson was arrested under kidnapping charges and began building a case against
him. However, Lucille Cameron “would not cooperate” and admitted she “had been
a prostitute before she left Milwaukee and had been in Chicago for more than
three months before she'd first met Johnson.”[6]
The case got dismissed and the two were married shortly after. After further
investigation, the assistant US district attorney found a woman named Belle Schreiber
whose “bitterness at Johnson's treatment of her made her just the witness
investigators were looking for.”[7]
He was charged with many counts of illegal transportation and prostitution
across state lines. He was sentenced to a year and a day in jail but fled with his
wife for the next several years. Eventually, on July 9, 1921, he finally turned
himself in and served his sentence.[8]
In the most recent years, the
Mann Act has never been repealed but it has been amended. “It was amended by
congress in 1978 and again in 1986 and applied only to transport for the
purpose of prostitution or illegal sexual acts.”[9]
Since then most of the cases have had to do with child trafficking which is a
whole other topic to discuss in the future.
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