Abolish Slavery National Network
About
No Slavery, No Exceptions
We are a national coalition fighting to abolish constitutional slavery and involuntary servitude in all forms, for all people.
We envision a United States where all people, without exception, are free from slavery and involuntary servitude and where all people are protected by their state and federal constitution.
For more than a century, our federal and state constitutions have preserved the right to enslave people as punishment for a crime.
The Freedom 5
In the 2022 midterms, we supported five states as they campaigned to abolish slavery through historic public referendums on constitutional amendments. Organizers in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont fought for change, with the support of each other and the Abolish Slavery National Network. These efforts against slavery and systemic racism were victorious in four states – Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont. We are proud to have supported them, and will work together to ensure adherence to their new constitutional rights.
Today, we are organizing in more than 20 states to abolish slavery from state constitutions.
Five states saw ballot initiatives in 2022.
Four states already have legislation introduced in 2023, and more states expect ballot initiatives before 2024 elections.
Meet Our Administration Team
Savannah Eldridge, Co-Director State Operations, Texas
Savannah Eldridge is a registered nurse and founder of Be Frank 4 Justice. She formed Be Frank 4 Justice to help ensure access to justice, after realizing obstacles while assisting her brother Frank appeal the egregious life sentence that he received under the outdated habitual offender statute. Through the organization, she advocates for meaningful changes in the criminal legal system and the empowerment of system impacted families.
In 2020, she formed the Coalition to Abolish Slavery-Texas, working to end the practice of slavery in Texas prison system. She also serves as a steering committee member for the Statewide Leadership Council, Board of Directors for Texas Inmate Families Association (TIFA), as Co-Director of State Operations for the Abolish Slavery National Network; and Chair of the Criminal Justice Committee for NAACP 6304.
Recently Savannah became a member of the Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health, where she hopes to promote positive health initiatives and outcomes for incarcerated people in Texas and across the nation.
Max Parthas, Co-Director of State Operations, South Carolina
Max Parthas is an internationally recognized Spoken Word Artist and American Slavery Abolitionist. In addition to numerous awards for his art, he is the recipient of the Missouri CURE Marc Taylor Activism Award, the Will Bell Humanitarian Award, and the “In The Spirit of Malcom X” award from MX Media.
Max is the current Acting Director for the Paul Cuffee Abolitionist Center in Sumpter, SC., Co-Director of State Operations for the Abolish Slavery National Network. Abolishslavery.us. and Co-host/Executive producer of Abolition Today (a unique online modern- slavery abolition episodic master class with an international audience.) abolitiontoday.org
Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, Director of Finance, South Carolina
Rev. Nathan Woodliff-Stanley is an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister and Finance Lead for the Leadership Team of the Abolish Slavery National Network. Nathan is the former Executive Director of the ACLU of Colorado, and he worked on the campaigns to abolish slavery from the Colorado constitution in 2016 and 2018, which succeeded with the 2018 passage of Amendment A.
Sarah Chase, Director of Communications, Washington
Sarah is a communications professional with extensive experience in media relations and communications in national and international markets. She joined ASNN in June 2021 after working in Colorado to advance additional reforms post Amendment A.
Sarah’s advocacy work ranges from community initiatives advancing environmental causes to embedding in and supporting refugee communities abroad. The communications director position supports the state and federal campaigns as well as internal communications for the national leadership team.
Sarah Chase, Director of Communications, Washington
Sarah is a communications professional with extensive experience in media relations and communications in national and international markets. She joined ASNN in June 2021 after working in Colorado to advance additional reforms post Amendment A.
Sarah’s advocacy work ranges from community initiatives advancing environmental causes to embedding in and supporting refugee communities abroad. The communications director position supports the state and federal campaigns as well as internal communications for the national leadership team.
Sarah Chase, Director of Communications, Washington
Sarah is a communications professional with extensive experience in media relations and communications in national and international markets. She joined ASNN in June 2021 after working in Colorado to advance additional reforms post Amendment A.
Sarah’s advocacy work ranges from community initiatives advancing environmental causes to embedding in and supporting refugee communities abroad. The communications director position supports the state and federal campaigns as well as internal communications for the national leadership team.
Dennis Febo, Co-Director of State Operations, New Jersey
Dennis Febo, MAH, is a speaker, community organizer, artist, abolitionist, and CEO and founder Guazabara Insights, LLC. Dennis is a native of Brooklyn, NY, raised in many different parts of the US and Puerto Rico. He attained his master’s degree from the Universities of Buffalo, Havana, Cuba, and Bahia, Brazil. Dennis has been working with thousands of our incarcerated community members and juveniles for the past 10 years. By devising a curriculum on Cultural and Social Consciousness Education, he has been able to educate thousands around the country on self-knowledge and self-actualization. Guazabara now provides many educational/recreational services and events for the community at large, with a focus on success for youth. Dennis also founded the New Jersey Credible Messenger movement and the the Amend the 13th movement in NJ, a lobbying strategy to remove the “exception clause” and add anti-slavery language to the New Jersey constitution. Mr. Febo is also a professor of graduate and undergraduate studies in Health Sciences at New Jersey City University.
Dennis Febo, Co-Director of State Operations, New Jersey
Dennis Febo, MAH, is a speaker, community organizer, artist, abolitionist, and CEO and founder Guazabara Insights, LLC. Dennis is a native of Brooklyn, NY, raised in many different parts of the US and Puerto Rico. He attained his master’s degree from the Universities of Buffalo, Havana, Cuba, and Bahia, Brazil. Dennis has been working with thousands of our incarcerated community members and juveniles for the past 10 years. By devising a curriculum on Cultural and Social Consciousness Education, he has been able to educate thousands around the country on self-knowledge and self-actualization. Guazabara now provides many educational/recreational services and events for the community at large, with a focus on success for youth. Dennis also founded the New Jersey Credible Messenger movement and the the Amend the 13th movement in NJ, a lobbying strategy to remove the “exception clause” and add anti-slavery language to the New Jersey constitution. Mr. Febo is also a professor of graduate and undergraduate studies in Health Sciences at New Jersey City University.
Why Now
In the last 5 years, seven states have abolished slavery in their state constitutions. In 2018, Colorado became the first state since Rhode Island — the only state to have fully abolished slavery prior to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment — to end the exception and abolish slavery. Following in its footsteps, Utah and Nebraska also led successful campaigns to abolish slavery in 2020. In all three states, the ballot initiatives were the result of unanimous, bipartisan legislative votes.
In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and awakening of so many to the visceral reality of anti-Black racism, more than 20 states are organizing to abolish slavery in their state constitutions.
Five states (Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont) saw referendums on their 2022 midterm ballots, and Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont all passed these measures to abolish slavery with no exceptions.
In 2023, 4 states already have legislature introduced, and we expect many more to join.
We have momentum!
NO SLAVERY, NO EXCEPTIONS
Celebrating One Year of the Abolish Slavery National Network
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PARTNER WITH ASNN
More than 20 states are organizing to abolish slavery in their state constitutions. Several are expecting ballot initiatives in 2022. Contact us for partnership opportunities.
Join the fight to abolish slavery today!