Forbidden "White Slavery and Interracial Relationships"

[ModernCatholic]

So I was watching this Vox video (left bias) about how “the Catholic Church” (really it was just Catholic people) censored Hollywood at one time. Apparently, they wrote a code called “A Code to Govern the Making of Motion Pictures” and in it was a part which forbade “white slavery and interracial relationships”. I’m wondering why this was included as part of the things that would be morally wrong for films. I obviously don’t support white slavery but it suggests that something about white slavery is more wrong than other kinds, especially at a time when black slavery would have been much more prevalent (and it doesn’t seem they were much opposed to that). Does the ideology that drove them to add that have any actual connection to the Catholic Church?

 

[Vico]

So I was watching this Vox video (left bias) about how “the Catholic Church” (really it was just Catholic people) censored Hollywood at one time. Apparently, they wrote a code called “A Code to Govern the Making of Motion Pictures” and in it was a part which forbade “white slavery and interracial relationships”. I’m wondering why this was included as part of the things that would be morally wrong for films. I obviously don’t support white slavery but it suggests that something about white slavery is more wrong than other kinds, especially at a time when black slavery would have been much more prevalent (and it doesn’t seem they were much opposed to that). Does the ideology that drove them to add that have any actual connection to the Catholic Church?

You can read it online. It was produced in 1930 by Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) which was rebranded in 1945 as Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

See page 3 for what you mention.

http://digitalcollections.oscars.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15759coll11/id/10839/

 

[mrsdizzyd]

In short, Man and his fallen nature was at work.

Racism has been a feature of American society since almost the very beginning of colonization. One should not be surprised that a document produced during the Jim Crow Era (1930-1945) would mirror the same ideas of racism and inequality that were a fact of life at the time.

 

[Pup7]

I don’t think this had any more to do with the Catholic Church than any other organization at the time.

Censorship was exercised differently back then across the board (you couldn’t say “pregnant”, only that the woman was “having a baby”; married couples slept in separate beds; you couldn’t show a toilet on television - things we’d view as extremism today).

Looking at an original document was interesting. Thanks for sharing, @Vico

 

[1ke]

So I was watching this Vox video (left bias) about how “the Catholic Church” (really it was just Catholic people) censored Hollywood at one time.

That’s hilarious!

 

[PaulfromIowa]

White slavery was used as a term for prostitution at the time.

 

[Pup7]

I forgot about that.

Mann Act - Wikipedia

 

[SuperLuigi]

ModernCatholic:
The MPAA established guidelines in the early 20th Century along those lines, I guess because such things would blow up the market. Since we are talking about a private group, that was fine but the opposition to interracial relationships in general was stupid because fecundity doesn’t matter based on race.

 

[Pup7]

Back then they thought that receiving a blood transfusion from a black person would make you “black”, though - and that wasn’t just in the south, either. Add to that that interracial relationships were illegal in many states, and if not illegal, heavily discouraged, with couples and children completely ostracized in some places. So I’m not surprised that Hollywood said no to that.

“Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?” was still about 15 years away from the last date on this document.

 

[mrsdizzyd]

White slavery was used as a term for prostitution at the time.

Indeed, but the OP’s question is still relevant. Were there black prostitutes? (yes) Would they have been considered to have been in White Slavery? (maybe) There is a distinction with a difference being made here. Again a product of Jim Crow racial bias.

 

[Pup7]

To be honest, given the timber of the time we’re discussing, I doubt they cared about black prostitutes. Those women were a complete non-entity. Hence the term “white slavery”.

Actual “Jim Crow laws” were exclusive to the South. California wouldn’t have cared about that in that regard, and I doubt the MPAA would’ve either. Segregation and racism was rampant nationwide, but not always explicitly encoded as it was in the American South.

They would’ve cared about ratings and movies and money, but not laws in the South, as they weren’t subject to them.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I obviously don’t support white slavery but it suggests that something about white slavery is more wrong than other kinds

“White Slavery” at the time of this Hollywood code referred specifically to trafficking women across state lines for prostitution or other sexual purposes. It was not referring to white people being enslaved. A Federal law had been passed against this called the “White Slave Traffic Act of 1910” which became better known as the “Mann Act” and is still in force today.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Indeed, but the OP’s question is still relevant. Were there black prostitutes? (yes) Would they have been considered to have been in White Slavery? (maybe) There is a distinction with a difference being made here. Again a product of Jim Crow racial bias.

The term “White Slavery” in this context was borrowed by some journalist from a 19th century labor movement.
The concern was primarily that foreigners such as “Russian Jews” and probably other groups of immigrants would be trafficking in innocent women from the countryside.
In practice, the law was sometimes applied in a racist way to punish black men who had white girlfriends, but sometimes minority women were also protected by the law.
Chuck Berry was famously busted under the Mann Act for taking a Native American girl across state lines.

Watch Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise & Fall of Boxer Jack Johnson | Ken Burns | PBS

I think Catholic teaching has always been against illicit sex and sex trafficking, so naturally the Church would not want to see sex trafficking portrayed in films regardless of what color the women or the sex traffickers were.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

As for the “interracial relationships” issue, the censorship of this in Hollywood films wasn’t driven by any Church policy and it wasn’t a Catholic thing.
Rather, Hollywood was concerned about audiences, especially in the South, going nuts and rioting and movie houses refusing to show a movie that had mixed race romantic relations in it. They actually had some troubles like this with some movies.

The Church never had any canon law against interracial marriages and in fact was one of the big forces behind getting the laws banning interracial marriages changed in the USA. Here’s some articles on that:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/blaise-zerega/how-the-catholic-church-f_b_213428.html

https://ccgaction.org/node/1011

 

[dochawk]

The Church never had any canon law against interracial marriages and in fact was one of the big forces behind getting the laws banning interracial marriages changed in the USA. Here’s some articles on that:

In 1950 or so, the KofC national convention was to be held in a DC hotel.

It turnout to be segregated, so they told the hotel no dice.

The hotel offered to allow blacks for the convention.

No, it has to be a permanent change.

The hotel caved and desegregate.

Bit to drive it all the way home, they had a black priest offer the main mass . . .

hawk

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

I don’t know how strictly the interracial relationship rule was enforced.

In “Arsenic and Old Lace”, Cary Grant and his bride to be are at the courthouse picking up their marriage lisence and a white man and his Asian bride are in the line ahead of them.
Also in “Showboat” there was in interracial couple–I don’t want to give a spoiler who it was though, but it was important to the story

 

[goout]

I’m really not sure what any of this has to do with the Catholic Church.

 

[Pup7]

In “Arsenic and Old Lace”, Cary Grant and his bride to be are at the courthouse picking up their marriage lisence and a white man and his Asian bride are in the line ahead of them.

Also in “Showboat” there was in interracial couple–I don’t want to give a spoiler who it was though, but it was important to the story

I’d forgotten about that scene in Arsenic and Old Lace. Capra probably didn’t care and was powerful enough that it probably didn’t matter. My mom probably saw it when it was released - and in the South - and growing up as an old movie buff I can’t remember her pointing it out as unusual. It was made during WWII, so I don’t know if that made a difference or not - and she lived in Norfolk, VA, HQ Atlantic Fleet, so lots of Navy around.

As for Showboat…regarding the situation you referenced (and I’ll stick with your ‘no spoilers’ rule), consider what actually happened. Apply that with a 1920s filter (which is when the original play was written) and you might be surprised at who the bad guys weren’t. Interestingly enough, one of the characters was the only character in the movie that nothing worked out for in the end…which would’ve fit with the era.

I think in the South more horror would’ve ensued if it had been a black and white couple over the above two, and that couple had been presented as husband and wife/couple of any sort in a serious manner (Showboat being a musical may have mitigated the circumstances). That was a massive no no, and was what got Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? banned even after the laws had changed.

Edited to add: And don’t forget, the actress who played the role was always white.

 

[PaulfromIowa]

The Hays Code was a Protestant, not a Catholic, invention. The Catholic Legion of Decency did have somewhat similar goals. The Catholic Church never taught against interracial marriage, although many Protestants did at the time.

 

[Pup7]

Two of the four men on the initial committee were neither Protestant nor Catholic; it wasn’t just a Protestant invention. It’s not myth or urban legend (or terrible) to say many in power in Hollywood back then were Jewish.