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Connecting Slavery Then with Slavery Now: Part 1

BY JAMES STEWART James Wallace Professor of History, Emeritus at Macalester College and Founder of Historians Against Slavery Most Americans believe that the Civil War put an end to human bondage a century and a half ago—end of story. In the face of

A Door of Hope in the Cycle of Exploitation

An Offer Too Good to be True A young girl is given a job offer that seems too good to be true. It is. She ends up exploited. She is rescued, and placed in an emergency aftercare shelter. This story has become a familiar one. All around the world, peo

Why We Must Begin Talking About Labor Trafficking

On a recent visit to New York City, I met with Safe Horizon whose staff told me that 60% of their human trafficking cases dealt with labor trafficking. Safe Horizon serves clients in the United States, meaning that those 60% of cases occurred here in

Haven

Here we are: Calcutta, India. A tiny group of us—one photographer, two writers, two justice-fighting wonders (of which I am not). We’re picking our way through the crowds and sewage and churn of poverty along a side-street in a city of which I may ne

FAQ: Does John Shaming Work?

You might’ve seen pictures of men, who have been charged with solicitation for prostitution, on billboards or newspapers. This name and shame technique is typically utilized by the end demand sector within the anti-trafficking field which believes th

Criminal Justice and Human Trafficking

The issue of human trafficking is the premier human rights issue of our time. But it's not just about enforcing human rights, it's about strengthening and using criminal justice systems to prosecute traffickers and rehabilitate survivors. This month

Intersectional Justice

As we continue on our journey for peace and justice it is important to remember that oppression is complex and multifaceted. Individuals experiencing one injustice may also be experiencing another injustice at the same time. A person who is African

The New Abolitionists

When people think of abolitionist leaders, the names of icons like Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Henry Ward Beecher, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton come to mind. A diverse cross section of Americans—black and white, enslaved and

The "Chocolate Slaves" of the Ivory Coast

A boy no older than 12 clambers up a tall cocoa tree, his arms and shoulders criss-crossed by scars from the machete he uses to cut down the seed pods. The tree is on a cocoa plantation outside of Yamoussoukro, the political capitol of Ivory Coast. T

You Can’t Get AIDS From A Hug: Why We Honor World AIDS Day

One of my earliest memories is walking through the hallways of my elementary school seeing posters with sayings like “you can’t get AIDS from a hug and a kiss.” This would have been around the time President Ronald Reagan finally started mentionin