slavery watch

This Section

Table of Contents

The word "slavery" usually brings to mind a plantation in the 17th , 18th, and 19th century United States with rows of cotton fields being worked by Black slaves under the steely glare and gun or whip of an overseer. Although that picture has not been relevant in the United States since the Civil War, current realities in many other countries include a vibrant, thriving slave economy. Today, there are more than 27 million slaves in the world, more than at any time in history.

The slave of today can find him or herself "working" in fields, brothels, the manufacture of goods, and many other areas. Age and sex are no barriers to being sold or stolen into slavery, and there is slavery in all hemispheres of the world.

In the last century there were constant verbal battles between abolitionists and those who favored slavery. The culmination was the United States Civil War. There are many abolitionists contesting today's slavery, but there will be no central battle ground. Taking an active role, a physical role to end slavery today can be life threatening to many abolitionists, but currently the major offensives are legislative. More needs to be done and in this section we will present stories, events, and proposed solutions by those actively involved in ending slavery in the modern world.