Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures
Their landlady in Harlem was a sharply-dressed woman by the name of Florence Williams. Florence happened to run a brothel on 151 West 140th Street. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and so Holiday’s mother became a prostitute. Within a matter of days of moving to New York, a young Billie who wasn’t even 14 years old, fell victim to sex trafficking.
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The house was raided by police on May 2, 1929. Sadie was sent to prison. Billie left alone, was charged with vagrancy (begging), and was sent to a workhouse. At that point, the 14-year-old was running errands, scrubbing marble steps and kitchen and bathroom floors in the neighborhood’s homes. Her mother was released in July of that year, and Billie in October.