Conclusion
Even though slavery is illegal everywhere in the world, many countries, including the United States, have slaves living and working within their borders. Your parents and friends may be shocked to know this.
Our class first started exploring this topic while we were studying Colonial America. We found out that many people were boycotting chocolate and other products, just as the colonists had boycotted certain products in order to protest the policies of the British government. We found that there are many different kinds of slavery that are still in existence today.
If you would like to further explore modern day slavery, you might start by researching slavery that is used in the production of carpets. There are an estimated 300,000 child slaves being forced to make carpets in India and surrounding areas today. There is a lot of very good information about carpet slavery. Check out the links below if you are interested in learning about carpet slavery. Also note the books that are listed below. They tell the true story of Iqbal, a boy who fought against slavery, and lost his life in the process.
You should also look into buying Fair Trade products, and I encourage you to spread the word about Fair Trade products. At my school we sold Fair Trade coffee, tea, and chocolate in order to fight modern day slavery. Check out the links below to learn more about Fair Trade.
Iqbal, by Francesco D'Adamo, Ann Leonori
| The Carpet Boy's Gift Pegi Deitz Shea, Leane Morin (Illustrator)  | |||
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Some websites about carpet slavery and Iqbal
http://www.mirrorimage.com/iqbal/index.html
http://www.worldviewmagazine.com/issues/article.cfm?id=68&issue=16
http://www.anti-slaverysociety.addr.com/carpets.htm
http://ihscslnews.org/view_article.php?id=40
Some websites about Fair Trade products
http://www.transfairusa.org
http://www.fairtradefederation.org
http://www.equalexchange.com/