One of the exhibition's interactive games

Opening at the Freedom Center on October 17, 2008, Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War promises to be an exhibition that’s likely to hold appeal for everyone from school groups to Civil War history buffs and human rights scholars.

We went last week to take a preview look at the 2,500 square-foot exhibit, currently on display at the Truman Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri. The exhibit masterfully shows that Abraham Lincoln’s brief term as President was fraught with unparalleled challenges, any one of which would have overwhelmed even the most capable of leaders. That Lincoln was able — with sheer determination and incomparable vision — to steer a course that brought the nation through a bitter civil war, preserved the Constitution, and set in motion the abolition of slavery is one of history’s watershed accomplishments.

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There’s an interesting post over at Matador Volunteer with some interesting facts about modern human trafficking:

2008 witnesses the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in America. Amidst the celebrations, what many people fail to realize is that slavery persists today in the modern world on an enormous scale.

In spite of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948 stating that “slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms,” the figures accompanying the modern slave trade seem inconceivable in a global society that prides itself upon its modern-day values and emphasis on human rights.

1. There are more people in slavery now than at any other time in human history.
2. The value of slaves has decreased.
3. Slavery still exists in the US.
4. Slavery is hidden behind many other names, thus disguising it from society.
5. The least known method of slavery is the most widely used.

Continue reading 10 Shocking Facts About Global Slavery in 2008

October 17 - January 11, 2009

Third Floor Changing Exhibit Gallery

Created by the National Constitution Center, Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War shows how Lincoln’s monumental struggle to save the Union transformed the nation and its Constitution.  The exhibit addresses the three principal constitutional crises of Lincoln’s presidency - the dissolution of the Union, slavery, and the suppression of civil liberties during wartime - and prompts visitors to examine current challenges to constitutional liberties.

SHANGHAI - China said Wednesday that it was investigating whether hundreds or perhaps thousands of children from poor areas in the southwest part of the country were sold to work as slave laborers in booming coastal factory cities.

Authorities in southern Guangdong Province, near Hong Kong, said they had already “rescued” more than 100 children from factories in the city of Dongguan, a huge manufacturing center known for producing and exporting toys, textiles and electronics.

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