If you thought slavery had been abolished for good with the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, you’re not alone. Most people don’t know that today the buying and selling of humans is the second most profitable illicit trade in the world. It is estimated that more than 27 million people are currently held in some form of servitude. 80% of the victims are female and half are children. In some cases children are sold to traffickers by their parents. Sometimes they’re taken. But they’re always utilized for hard labor or exploited for sex.
The only way today’s underground slave trade is allowed to exist is through ignorance - people don’t know it’s there. We believe that, once the public is educated about this human rights crisis (that happens in every country of the world), citizens will help to stop it. That’s why the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation wants you to know about the Abolition Day Project.
The UN's "International Day for the Abolition of Slavery" commemorates the December 2, 1949 adoption of the "United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others." Unfortunately, this day of commemoration receives very little attention, perhaps, because most people believe that the practice of slavery is dead. This year, however, is the 60th anniversary and we want to help focus the attention of the world on the issue of slavery and human trafficking by promoting Abolition Day internationally. Here is what we're doing:
We’ve chosen 10 outstanding middle schools and high schools from across the country to help us promote Abolition Day. A group of students from each school will build web pages, contact media outlets and create events in order to put Abolition Day on the map. The idea is to not only commemorate heroes of the past but to use Abolition Day as a reason to begin educating the public about human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
As you might imagine, educating the world is a big job. That’s why our participating students will have lots of help. Each school will be paired with a local advertising/PR agency to act as promotional mentor to the students. Other students at other schools will be asked to support the efforts of our 10 schools or to initiate their own school projects for Abolition Day. A local university will be supporting each participating school. And, of course, the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation will work along side of each school.
Your help is needed too. Do your children attend a school that may want to participate in the Abolition Day Project? Are you part of a club or an organization that may want to promote Abolition Day by featuring it in an upcoming event? Do you work at a company that could support our efforts? Or, as an individual, can you volunteer time to work on this brief campaign? This is a tremendous opportunity for all of us to do something to save the most vulnerable among us from a life of bondage.
Contact Robert Benz at
