No Rest for the Weary: The Modern Anti-Slavery Movement in the United States

Social Studies Review, Spring 2005 by Betts, Brenda, Russ, Pamela

Modern day slavery is a worldwide phenomenon. Individual and groups of people are captured and transported around the world for their labor. These slaves are brutally beaten, confined to small areas, and raped. Their labor produces a commodity or product that is put on the world market, which includes the market in the United States. Often the choices made by consumers dictate the need for labor and for slaves. Industries that require labor to produce their products and are known to use slave labor include coffee plantations, sugar plantations, and tobacco plantations. Slaves also weave oriental rugs, build roads, clear forests, and work as camel jockeys. Some countries that are popular travel destinations have large slave populations hidden from view.

As consumers, students and their families can influence the slave trade by the choices they make in the food they eat, clothes they purchase, products they select, vacations they plan and people they employ. Individual citizen advocacy has been effective in raising awareness about slavery, but governments have not been effective in eradicating slavery. Often, extreme poverty is an explanation to rationalize the need for slave labor.

Service Learning Projects for K-12 Students

Visit the iAbolish.com website where there are K-12 service learning projects, special activities, and lesson plans designed for the classroom. One of the highlights is the Slavery That Oppresses People (S.T.O.P) programlearning project that actively involves students at the community, state, national, and international levels in building an awareness of issues facing today's American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG). In the last three years the S.T.O.P. program has raised over 70,000 dollars and freed over 2,000 slaves worldwide. A fifth grade class from Denver, Colorado founded the S.T.O.P. Program. Another excellent program is the Freedom Action Network, where individual students can make a difference by joining an email action network, build awareness in their community by starting a letter writing campaign, and work as an intern or volunteer at AASG in order to help liberate and educate slaves.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ACTIVITIES

Third through Fifth Grades

1. Read children's literature books about the Underground Railroad from the Bibliography at the end of this article.

2. Make maps to freedom from old parchment paper or brown paper shopping bags. Discuss the physical terrain and obstacles to safety. Create landmarks and signs to guide the escaped slaves to the free-states and Canada.

3. Journals. Using the map, take the perspective of an escaping slave. Write an entry each day about the experiences and challenges of traveling on the Underground Railroad.

4. Create a wanted poster for an escaped slave.

5. Explain to students that slaves could only leave the plantation with written permission from their masters. Begin with an example of a slave pass. Then, students write a slave pass.

6. Write a letter to the local newspaper to explain about the Modern Day Anti-SlaveryMovement.