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Sin City North: Sex, Drugs, and Citizenship in the Detroit-Windsor Borderland

Online ISBN:
9781469625225
Print ISBN:
9781469625201
Publisher:
University of North Carolina Press
Book

Sin City North: Sex, Drugs, and Citizenship in the Detroit-Windsor Borderland

Published:
26 October 2015
Online ISBN:
9781469625225
Print ISBN:
9781469625201
Publisher:
University of North Carolina Press

Abstract

Sin City North examines the history of illicit economies in the Detroit-Windsor borderland during the post-World War II period. Karibo uncovers a thriving illegal border culture in the bars, brothels, dance halls, and jazz clubs that emerged around the busiest crossing point between the United States and Canada. Prostitution and illegal drug economies gained renewed importance at a time when suburbanization, industrial decline, and racial segregation were re-shaping the region. For many residents, vice industries provided much-needed income in the fledgling labor market. Yet, the increasing visibility of illicit economies on city streets—and the growing number of African American and French Canadian women working in illegal trades—provoked strong reactions from moral reformers. Framing their efforts within the context of the Cold War, these interest groups worked together across the border in order to eliminate so-called immoral outsiders from their communities. This critical study demonstrates that struggles over the meaning of vice evolved into much more than defining the legal status of particular activities; they were also crucial avenues through which men and women attempted to define productive citizenship and community in the postwar urban borderland.

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