Kevin Bales was recently interviewed by María Hinojosa for her show "One-on-One." They discuss modern-day slavery in the U.S., and refer to The Slave Next Door, the book Bales co-wrote on this topic (historian Ron Soodalter was the other co-author). The U.S. "could be...
Last week we told you about the groundbreaking anti-slavery PSA that went up in Times Square. Today, we've got a photo to show you how massive this ad is! See for yourself in the photo to the left—or, better yet, if you're in New York City, go see it live! The PSA...
UPDATE 2: We did it! Thanks to your support, we hit our mark. $50,000 will go to Free the Slaves Nepal projects. UPDATE: We are just $7,000 away from reaching our goal of $50,000! Every penny counts—today is the last day to have your donation matched! Give the gift of...
The Global Action Forum is taking place later this week at the Beverly Hilton Hotel's International Ball Room. From Thursday, February 17 through Friday the 18th, socially conscious celebrities and activists from all over the world and all walks of life will come...
If you are in Times Square today, you will be able to see the above message live. The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST), a coalition of U.S.-based anti-slavery groups—of which Free the Slaves is a founding member—has set up this PSA to be run in the New...
On Saturday, it will be Lincoln's birthday. It is normal for American school children to learn that President Lincoln ended legalized slavery in the U.S. with the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. It is not as usual for school children to learn that slavery persists...
It was just over a year ago—January 2010—that Free the Slaves partners in India staged a raid and rescued 49 bonded laborers from a brick kiln near the village of Bahari. It turned out that 18 of the rescued laborers were originally from Bihar. They were able to...
Last weekend, Halogen TV premiered the 2010 Freedom Awards. We live tweeted and watched the broadcast along with the rest of you—it was just as inspiring and exciting to relive as it was to experience first hand. (I got to see what I looked like on camera, as I...
Last October, Free the Slaves' UK partner Anti-Slavery International (ASI) launched an interactive website that helps consumers get a global snapshot of slave labor in product supply chains. ProductsofSlavery.org shows you which products and industries have been found...
Some great news! We just noticed that TED Talks are now available with translated subtitles in seventeen different languages—including Portuguese, Arabic and Chinese. Now, Free the Slaves President Kevin Bales' groundbreaking speech on How to Combat Modern Slavery can...
Recently, Free the Slaves Partnerships Director Ginny Bauman, accompanied by FTS South Asia Director, Supriya Awasthi visited the work of our partner organization, Women Skill Creation Center (WOSCC) in Makwanpur District, Nepal. Here is her report: Supriya and I...
Here's the trailer for the Freedom Awards, which premiered last night on Halogen TV. If you missed it, don't fret! It's airing again tonight at 8pm ET.
We're live tweeting for the world premier of the 2010 Freedom Awards on Halogen TV, Saturday, January 29, 8pm ET. Take part in Halogen's online raffle for a chance to win an Abolitionist Prize Pack—featuring goodies from Free the Slaves and other anti-slavery...
Join the movement against modern slavery! Free the Slaves is looking for motivated volunteers to assist in our Washington, DC headquarters. Volunteers will have the opportunity to contribute concretely to our mission and to learn about the ins-and-outs of managing a...
This awards show will make you laugh, and cry—and want to change the world. If you’ve never seen the annual Freedom Awards, you have no idea how inspiring it is to join the growing global movement of people who love freedom. Freedom for all. If you’ve seen previous...
2010 Freedom Awards and Freedom Rocks performer—and Ghanaian reggae superstar—Rocky Dawuni has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award in the category of "Outstanding World Music Album" for his record Hymns for a Rebel Soul. Rocky rocked the house at the Freedom...
We know what we are doing this Saturday: watching the 2010 Freedom Awards on Halogen TV! Launched in January 2009, Halogen bills itself as the television network for millennials—the first generation to come of age in the new media era. For millennials, online...
In December, we announced our end of year Nepal Matching Fund program, in which every donation you make to Free the Slaves' Nepal work will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $50,000 by a generous foundation. We are excited to announce that the deadline for this...
This week marks the one-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Free the Slaves has been part of the global humanitarian response, and caseworkers report they’ve reunited nearly 1000 children with their families. Many were in slavery, and others were...
The TVPA of 2000 is, as Amanda Kloer from Change.org says, the "cornerstone of U.S. efforts to combat human trafficking in the United States and around the world." The law recognizes human trafficking as a crime, provides protections for victims, and helps prevent and...
When people learn that slavery still exists, even in the United States, they’re often compelled to take action. That’s why January is filled with gatherings, vigils, services and seminars to remind us that slavery in America hasn’t ended. “Thinking slavery ended with...
Despite the fact that slavery is illegal, modern day slavery thrives in many parts of India. There are millions of bonded labor slaves in the sub-continent. Most of these are Dalits—people of the so-called "untouchable" caste—who are saddled with bogus debts they can...
Last week, Free the Slaves was among 17 organizations that co-signed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging her to make the eradication of slavery and human rights abuses in Congo a U.S. government priority. Read Free the Slaves Director of Programs...
Here's some interesting news: Free the Slaves President Kevin Bales' groundbreaking 1999 book Disposable People has been translated into Arabic. Only a few hundred books are translated into Arabic every year (one estimate puts the number at 330). By comparison, the...
Ghana is the 10th biggest producer of gold in the world. A 2003 report found that the exportation of gold garners “approximately 50%” of the country’s GDP. But much of the mining industry is made up of “galamsey” operators—artisanal miners who often operate in...
Free the Slaves Policy and Research Associate Jody Sarich is featured on Big Think today, speaking about her research on forced marriage and its relation to slavery and human trafficking in China. With FTS President Kevin Bales, Sarich is currently writing the first...
In north India, Free the Slaves partner Diocesan Development and Welfare Society (DDWS) rescues men, women and children from slavery. Some of the rescued children need shelter and rehabilitation, which is provided through the Bal Vikas Ashram, where survivors are...
In 2007, Free the Slaves became one of the founding members of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST). Formerly known as the Action Group, ATEST is a coalition of diverse, U.S.-based organizations, united by our shared goal of ending modern-day slavery...
As 2010 draws to a close, we have an incredible opportunity to support FTS and our Nepali partners, where you can double your impact! Our work in Nepal helps women and girls out of sex slavery, domestic servitude, and agricultural slavery. Right now, every gift made...
Editor's note: Here is another blog post from Free the Slaves intern Alison Leuchtenburg, in which she gives tips on how to organize a fundraising walk for your favorite cause—which, we hope, is Free the Slaves! As a student organizer, Alison organized the first...
Free the Slaves President Kevin Bales is featured in the current issue of The Friend, a weekly British Quaker magazine that has been continuously in print since 1843. (That's a long time for a magazine. To put it in perspective, Vanity Fair has been around since 1913,...
Last night was the opening event of artist Benjamin Swatez exhibition at Ortega 120 in Redondo Beach. The show features works created live during several past Free the Slaves events—including Freedom Fest in San Diego, and Freedom Rocks, the after party of last...
Free the Slaves has freshened up our homepage just in time for the holidays! Our web guru Andrew Taylor came up with a design that can showcase our latest activities without overcrowding the page. Here's what Andy says: "We are proud to announce the first major...
Here's something for you to keep on your calenders for the New Year: Not My Life, a documentary on modern day slavery, narrated by Ashley Judd—and featuring Free the Slaves President Kevin Bales—will premiere in January. The director of Not My Life is Robert...
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A blueprint for eliminating modern slavery has earned its creator the 2011 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Kevin Bales, president of Free the Slaves, a human rights organization based in Washington, D.C.,...
We hope you'll be enjoying your Thanksgiving feasts tomorrow. We definitely will. We'll be emerging from our food comas on Monday—when we'll be back in full force! In the meantime, tell us why SLAVERY SUCKS! Sign our petition urging the SEC t0 monitor for slavery in...
We received some exciting news today from India. 2010 Harriet Tubman award winning organization JEEVIKA works in Karnataka, a state in southern India where slavery in the form of bonded labor is prevalent. JEEVIKA's founder Kiran Prasad works largely with the Dalits—a...
Ghanan reporter Adwoa Yeboah Agyei attended the Freedom Awards earlier this month. Adwoa is a celebrity in Ghana, where she is a radio presenter on popular station Peace FM. She's assisted Free the Slaves on past Ghana projects—and her reporting work has raised our...
Kevin Bales was interviewed on the website LifebyMe.com. The site bills Bales—who is co-founder and President of Free the Slaves—a "Game Changer." We agree. When Free the Slaves was founded in 2000, most people around the world did not know that slavery was still in...
In October, the Associated Press reported on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Siem Reap, Cambodia where she visited with non other than 2009 Freedom Award winner Sina Vann. Sina was among a group of survivors of slavery in Cambodia, who met with Clinton...
Check out some clips from Jason Mraz's interview with ABC News Radio, about the Freedom Awards, and his experiences in Ghana with Free the Slaves: Thanks for your support, Jason! Check out video of his Ghana trip here.
In our research, Free The Slaves (FTS) has observed communities formerly in ruins because of slavery and trafficking, stand up and begin to experience freedom. With freedom, exponential improvements in social and economic development along with women’s empowerment...
Causecast: Freedom Awards 2010 Shout Out Loud Success for Free the Slaves: "This last Sunday, human rights organization Free The Slaves held their annual Freedom Awards and Freedom Rocks! ... Causecast was there to livestream the awards show to an audience of over...
Editor's note: This post was written by Sarah Gardner, Development Associate at Free the Slaves. The Lobby of all Lobbies. The Ground Floor. As Development Associate at Free the Slaves, I work to raise funds and donations. To this end, I recently attended my...
That handsome face you see above is Emmanuel Otoo, Free the Slaves West Africa Coordinator, based in Accra, Ghana. He flew all the way to Los Angeles to attend the Freedom Awards, and compelled major figures in the Ghana press to cover the event!
We're thrilled that John Burger of the Dallas Human Trafficking Examiner attended the Freedom Awards. We're even more thrilled that he wrote passionately about the event! John is a self proclaimed abolitionist, who (much like myself!) uses social media to raise...
Here is a media round up of Freedom Awards coverage. For all who worked tirelessly to make this event a reality: Thank you! Daily Breeze: Anti-slavery organization moves its award night to Redondo Beach: "After outgrowing their old venue, founders of a leading...
The 2010 Freedom Awards happening LIVE in Los Angeles, Sunday November 7 at 6 p.m. PST. Featuring the witty master of ceremonies: Sir Ken Robinson. Music from Jason Mraz. Presenters include Forest Whitaker, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher—and more! The best and most...