Barbaric racial discrimination and oppression of the black people in the USA - this is the theme of Hildreth's novel "The White Slave." Its action dates back to the 30s - 50s of the 19th century - a period of intensified struggle between the slave-owning South and the industrial capitalist North. Since the second decade of the 19th century, in connection with the transformation of the southern states into the main supplier of cotton for the textile industry of England, which was rapidly developing after the industrial revolution, the South has become noticeably prominent in the economic and political life of the United States.