Nothing racist, I'm just interested in the facts. I read somewhere that just after the Reconstruction, poor blacks went into prostitution and pimping to earn money. In the 1800s, early 1900s prostitution was legal - in fact the saloon was the center of town and entertainment frequented by sheriffs, mayors and city councilmen.
Was one of the reason prostitution became illegal because blacks got into prostitution, much like cannabis being illegal because Mexicans used cannabis?
In the 1800s, early 1900s prostitution was legal
Who told you this?! In the US, law follows British common law, where whores were whipped at the cart's tail through town. This was the attitude in the civilized US (Western boom towns may be excepted).
Which isn't to say it wasn't happening, especially with enough bribes to the right people. In a few places it was legal, like Storyville in New Orleans. But one thing I noticed about sections of a "Blue Book" of sportin' houses quoted and shown in Brass Checks and Red Lights is that madames boasted of "16 beautiful octoroon boarders" but not about Mlle Madelaine from France. In short, virtually all the women were some level of African descent, with the ones worth note being 7/8 white -- but no boasting of fully white girls.
You may be interested in the answers to this earlier question: