February 1 is National Freedom Day

This Saturday is National Freedom Day, which commemorates President Abraham Lincoln's February 1, 1865 signing of a joint resolution which ultimately became the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ending slavery in the United States.

National Freedom Day began in 1949 but has changed in focus in recent years.  In 2010, President Obama first proclaimed the month of January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, to culminate in National Freedom Day on the 1st of February.  In this year's proclamation, President Obama sheds light on the tragic fact that millions of people worldwide remain victims of "modern-day slavery" and calls for international action and solutions to fight human trafficking and "restore to all people the most basic rights of freedom, dignity, and justice." 

The law library is currently featuring a National Freedom Day display which highlights resources in the library's collection that discuss human trafficking, as well as the history of the 13th Amendment in the United States. Included are the following titles:

What God Hath Wrought: The Embodiment of Freedom in the Thirteenth Amendment / George H. Hoemann

The Quest For Freedom: A Legal History of the Thirteenth Amendment / by G. Sidney Buchanan, coauthored by Patty Bass, et al.

Crimes Against Humanity / Adam Jones

Women’s Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives / edited by Julie Peters and Andrea Wolper

The Reconstruction Amendments’ Debates: The Legislative History and Contemporary Debates in Congress on the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments

For more information on human trafficking crimes in the U.S., click here for a summary of federal anti-trafficking laws from the Department of State.  Additional information is available from the Department of Justice. The United States Attorney's Office for South Dakota also discusses the prosecution of human trafficking crimes, as outlined in the Office's Annual Report.  If you are interested in the prosecution of human trafficking crimes across the nation, the Human Trafficking Law Project at the University of Michigan Law School maintains a database of human trafficking cases within the United States.