Date of Award

Summer 8-1-2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

Ann Short Arehart

Second Advisor

Christopher Olson

Abstract

The Second Great Awakening spurred the moral reform campaign dealing with prostitution in the United States. In the nineteenth century as public areas were being segregated specifically for prostitution anti-vice reformers engaged in a discourse over the allocation of what historian Mary P. Ryan calls "public space." Beginning with the Progressive Era and the onset of the white slave trade, reformers shifted their attention from the regulation to the abolition of prostitution. Social hygiene and sex education became a part of the reform dialogue. Most major cities of this time eradicated the officially sanctioned Red Light District. However, the mid-western city of Terre Haute, Indiana failed to adhere to progressive anti-vice reforms and did not permanently abolish its Red Light District until 1972.

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