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 U.S. published 275,000 books in 2008 alone.
Disposable People is an important book in the anti-slavery movement. It was published over a decade ago, when most people were unaware of the existence of modern day slavery. The book has opened countless peoples’ eyes. In fact, if there were no Disposable People, there may never have been an organization called Free the Slaves, because the book was the catalyst that brought the three FTS co-founders together.
After Peggy Callahan and Jolene Smith read it, they were inspired to act. (This seems to be a common side effect of Disposable People.) They contacted Kevin Bales, and all met in person around a kitchen table in Mississippi—where Bales lived and worked at the time. In that meeting, they “dreamed big,” and envisioned a world without slavery. In 2000, they formed Free the Slaves to make this dream a reality.
Kevin Bales has continued to publish groundbreaking works on modern day slavery since then. But Disposable People was the one that started it all. For more information on Bales’ books, go here.
