Abolition in the Land of Lincoln

“Abolition” isn’t a word you hear much in 2013. It should be, though. And a group of modern-day freedom fighters in Illinois is resurrecting the term — with its echoes of 1800s America — to combat ongoing slavery in a faraway West African country.

The Abolition Institute, which launched its website on Monday, is a newly formed group trying to end slavery in Mauritania, a remote outpost in the Sahara where an estimated 10% to 20% of people are enslaved, according to a U.N. expert.

“There’s just a special connection between Illinois, where President Lincoln and President Grant and President Obama are from, and Mauritania,” said Sean Tenner, the group’s co-founder, who also hails from Illinois. “(They’re) different places, but with the same path.”

Hopefully that path leads to universal freedom.

I traveled to Mauritania in December 2011 to report on the issue for CNN’s Freedom Project. It’s an amazing and gut-wrenching place, full of vast potential but struggling to break slavery’s psychological chains. More than a year later, I’m left with a deep sense of hope and cautious optimism that Mauritania will be able to break them.

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