Hazel Moon, also known as Hazel France, appeared in the United States District court, Eastern District of Illinois, on March 7th, 1912. Receiving a bond in the of $5,000.00 to the indictment of White Slave Traffic, Hazel along with her co-defendant Gertrude Reed, were both held at the Vermilion county jail in Illinois. Hazel was being charged with “unlawfully and feloniously causing two young teens to be transported in interstate commerce from Indianapolis, Indiana to Danville, Illinois for the purpose of prostitution and debauchery.”

        Beginning in the early 1900’s, America awoke to a startling new threat: the existence of an international conspiracy to seduce, entrap and ultimately enslave (white) American girls into a life of prostitution. Historian Mark Thomas Connelly has described the indignation and concern over white slavery as “intense, widespread, and often hysterical.” The period between 1909 and World War I was a particularly prodigious period for white slave narratives, and the first federal legislation attempting to combat white slavery dates to this era. Hazel Moon’s prosecution for white slavery in 1911 can, therefore, be understood in the context of contemporary anxieties and policy developments concerning sex work and women’s agency, themes that continue to be present in debates today about victimization and human trafficking.

Who was the White Slave? White slave narratives of the early 20th century paint a picture of the white slave as an innocent, pre sexual young girl who had been tricked into a life of prostitution. These narratives of white slavery followed particular patterns. As Connelly explains [quote]: “Typically, a chaste and comely native country girl would forsake her idyllic country home and family for the promise of the city. On the way, or shortly after her arrival, she would fall victim to one of the swarm of panders lying in wait for such an innocent and unprotected sojourner. Using one of his vast variety of tricks—a promise of marriage , an offer to assist in securing lodging, or, if these were to no avail, the chloroformed cloth, the hypodermic needle, or drug induced drink—the insidious white slaver would brutally seduce the girl and install her in a brothel, where she became an enslaved prostitute. Within five years she would end up in potters field, unless she had the good fortune to be “rescued” by a member of a dedicated group fighting white slavery.” [end quote]^[1]        

        My research on Hazel Moon was sparked as I looked into archival records and newspaper reports concerning the Indiana Girls School, which was located in Clermont west of Indianapolis beginning in the early 20th century. It is now the site of the Indiana Women’s Prison. In 1905, when Hazel was fifteen years old, she first was committed to the Indiana Girls school by her mother, Fanny Corder, for incorrigibility. She was to remain at the Girls School until she aged out at twenty-one years old. She paroled out between 1907 and 1909 and during that time, according to court documents, she became a victim to a woman named Hattie Black. Hattie was the owner of the “Danville Hotel” in Danville, Illinois, a town just across the Indiana-Illinois border that was known for its Red-Light District. Red-Light Districts like that at Danville were targets of social reformers concerned about white slavery and the victimization of women. Danville was among 33 cities that, between 1911 and 1916, issued reports about white slavery as a social evil in their communities.

Little is known about Hazel’s experience as a sex worker in Danville, but records show that she was returned to the Girls School in 1911, where after a few months she aged out, turning 21, and was then released. At age 22 Hazel was accused of purchasing tickets for two girls who had escaped from the Indiana Girls School and sending them to resorts in the red-light district of Danville, Illinois. Both newspaper accounts and court documents report that Hazel became acquainted with two teenaged girls, Emma Hudson and Lillian Brennan, while at the Girls School.

Lillian and Emma’s accounts of their own entrance into the world of sex work and how they found themselves in a environment that exposed them to a world they never claim they never expected. They told reporters after their arrest in Danville and return to the Girls School that they escaped the school in July and as they were walking into the city, that three men took them to a room on N Pennsylvania Street for a week before they went to Danville.

        According to a handwritten letter Emma wrote in response to a subpoena, Hazel met Emma and Lillian on the street in downtown Indianapolis asking them if they would be interested in taking a trip. Emma stated that (and I will quote her statement at length):

“Hazel would get them tickets, later meeting Hazel at 328 N. Delaware St., she said she would see that we had a cab when we arrived. She said to us that we wouldn’t have much to do and that everything was very nice. She wrote out a piece of paper how to get there, told us that Gertrude would meet us at the station; and if she wasn’t there to get any cab and go to 24 and ½ Washington, we left Indianapolis on December 10th and on the 12-5 train we arrived in Danville, Illinois Sunday morning on December 11th. We got a cab and went to that home finding later for immoral purposes. I stayed at the place for 3 and ½ days and left on December 15th for home after finding out where we had been placed. While leaving I found that I had a $7.00 debt and I asked for my clothes and she refused to let me have them. When we left her place I left she asked me to send her two girls saying that it would be save her from going to St. Louis after them but I told her I didn’t know any girls in town and she would find somewhere else”.[end quote]

        After Hazel’s arrest, both young Lillian and Emma were subpoenaed into court pertaining to Hazel's pending case. They were both arrested in Danville a short time afterward and returned to the Girls school in Indiana.

        As Hazel continued through her court proceedings, she was sentenced on the charges of white slavery for two months at the Vermilion County jail, while the Danville Hotel owner and manager, Hattie Black and Gertrude Reed were both sentenced to serve one year and one day at the Kansas State Penitentiary, which was a federal holding facility. Both were accused of practicing prostitution in the said city of Danville, Illinois, “unlawfully, willingly, and feloniously providing transportation over the Cleveland, Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis railway line, a corporation engaged in interstate commerce”. The records are unclear, but Hazel may have avoided federal charges by testifying against Hattie and Gertrude, who held more powerful positions in the world of sex work in Danville as the proprietors of the Danville Hotel.

        Hattie and Gertrude’s sentencing to federal prison must be understood in response to what was then brand new legislation concerning white slavery in the United States. In 1910 the US congress passed the white slave traffic act, better known as the Mann Act, which made it a felony to transport women across state borders for the purpose of “prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” The Mann Act was the first of a series of laws meant to curtail what has since become known as human trafficking. As more women were (allegedly) being trafficked from foreign countries, the US began passing immigration Acts to curtail aliens from entering the country such as the Emergency Quota Act of 1912 and the Immigration Act of 1924.

The original purpose of the Mann Act was to stop the traffic in women, the selling of girls into slavery, and the transportation of girls and women of good character from one state to another for immoral purposes. The vast majority of the arrests associated with the Act were not related to instances of women being forced into sex work; eighty percent of the convictions during this era on white slavery charges resulted from “joy riding,” which might simply mean an unmarried male and female traveling together by car across state lines.

Some prison officials were opposed to broad interpretations of the Mann Act. In 1913 Warden R.W. McClaughry of the United States penitentiary stated [quote], “yes, I am in favor of the Mann Act when it is applied for those who transport women from state to state for commercial purposes and where it is proved is this: innocent girls are sold into slavery, but when young girls are sold into slavery, but where women are questionable character are taken from one state to another, I am in favor of merely a jail sentence.” [end quote] It took several years to implement the Mann Act  specifically pertaining to the transport or sale of women. During June of 1913 eight women were serving time in Kansas State Prison for White Slave convictions, two of which were Hazel’s co-defendants, Hattie Black and Gertrude Reed.        

        The story of Hazel and her associates has resonances today, as scholars, sex workers, and advocates debate about the nature of so-called “human trafficking.” The well-known image of male traffickers preying on women and young girls has been reinforced by media, the entertainment industry, international policy agendas and academic literature. At its most extreme, some literature describes women who are manipulated and murdered as warnings to competing traffickers and pimps and as punishment for refusing to engage in prostitution. However, critics of the notion of human trafficking have argued that anti-trafficking legislation is merely the criminalization of sex work and the expansion of the carceral state. The discourse of victimhood ignores how sex workers make well considered decisions to improve their economic position and quality of life. Sex workers are aware that they are taking risks when they agree to their movement or accept conditions of work at the point of destination.

What about Hazel and her associates? Was Hazel the victim of Hattie Black, who “lured” Hazel into prostitution? Did Hazel then transform into a victimizer herself by drawing Emma and Lillian into the lifestyle? Can the actions of these women be understood as human trafficking? Or, by engaging in sex work and the running of the Danville hotel, were these women all exerting economic agency and bodily autonomy?

I also have questions about Lillian and Emma’s statements. Were they telling the truth by stating that Hazel was unclear about the nature of the work they’d be asked to do in Danville, and that Hazel prevented their departure from the hotel by holding their clothes? Or were the young women framing themselves as unwitting victims to avoid punishment for their actions?

I am still working through this material, and there are several gaps I hope to fill with additional research. Although I am still piecing together my conclusions, I can say that the story of Hazel Moon raises interesting questions about how parrallels between White Slavery in the early 1900s and Human Trafficking today, and the complexities of gender, agency, and victimhood.

[End]

[Stuff I cut from your prior draft:]

Pertaining to my case study of Hazel Moon I have no research indicating that she or her accomplices used any type of brute force to coerce these young teens into the life of prostitution. It appears to be more of mental or emotional coercion promising or providing agency to live different or better than their current situations. ‘Coercion’ is defined through a process in which an outcome is driven by mental, physical, legal and/or Phycological restrain. In trafficking discourse this translates into the ever-present imagery of kidnapping, abduction, and the seeking of young girls.

        Many prefer the term ‘slavery ‘to ‘trafficking’ as the former serves to both connect current problem to the historical context of forced labor and to highlight the brutal reality and human suffering. The term trafficking can reflect a sanitized version of the problem. There is no identifiable voluntariness in the initial movement of trafficked individuals. Instead trafficking is perceived as involving kidnapping, abduction or seeking of women and girls, which is a coerced movement. The possibility of a woman being a victim of trafficking and an agent seeking economic or social betterment is ignored. This theory supports my case study pertaining to Hazel and how she evolved from a victim to agent in this world even in the early 1900’s, and she allowed her victims to have a choice showing agency with coercion, mentally and psychologically, not physically.

, married her husband Roy France in 1909, and was returned to the Girls School on January 9th, 1911, eventually aging out at twenty-one on April 3rd, 1911.

Further investigation since that particular indictment was returned the number increased while being involved in a highly orchestrated operation between Hazel and two other women.

Once she was returned to the Girls School, she herself took on the role of coercing other young women into this lifestyle. How Hattie Black brought her into this lifestyle is unknown to me at this time, nor is it clear why Hazel decided to start recruiting these young teens herself.  

        Hattie Black, also known as Hattie Miskell, is pertinent to this case study because when she went to trial Hazel France was one of her victims while out on parole dating back to December 4th, 1911, along with seven other victims with accusatory dates from December 4th, 1911 to January 9th, 1912.

        Newspaper articles had suggested that there were a suspicion of Hattie being involved when Gertrude and Hazel were originally arrested Hattie was sent to jail by Federal Commissioner Draper, on a charge of white slavery, she was said to be connected with Mrs. Gertrude Reed, who was held to the grand jury on a charge of enticing two young girls from the industrial school at Clermont, Indiana. Murray Clark assistant United States district attorney said that with in a few days sensational arrest would be made in the connection of the alleged white slavery in this city. He said the government had information which involved several people here, according to the Argos Reflector (Argos, Indiana Thursday, February 1, 1912. Considering the superintendent reports show that on October 3rd, 1907, Ms. Hazel France was released on parole when court documents from the Eastern District of Illinois, Federal court support the idea that she was introduced to this world before she was returned to the girls school on January 9, 1911. At this point is when I believe that she became fully involved with Gertrude Reed and her life took a pivotal turn and although I have nothing to support the assumption of the relationship between Hattie and Gertrude as far as White slavery is concerned all I can prove at this time is that they were both proprietors or employees of hotels, specifically the Danville Hotel.

The commonality of what I found pertaining to Hazel and what we see in our everyday world today caused me to dig deeper into her story, Human Trafficking vs. White slavery. I’ve attempted several lens surrounding this subject matter to gain a better understanding without weighing on my own personal opinion that transport or sale of another human being is morally incorrect, but just because that is my personal opinion this is a form of survival, agency and in some cases a soundly structured organization that many view as a force of action from one human being to another.

Human trafficking is a complex and multi-faceted phenomenon that takes many forms, including and beyond sexual exploitation of women and girls.