Introducing Our New Printable Legislative One-Pager

One of the most common reactions people have when they first learn about the exception clause in the 13th Amendment is disbelief. Most Americans are taught that slavery was abolished in 1865. What many people are not taught is that the amendment includes a clause that allows slavery and involuntary servitude to continue as punishment for a crime.

That single exception created the legal foundation for systems that followed Reconstruction—Black Codes, convict leasing, chain gangs, and today’s prison labor system. More than 150 years later, the legacy of that loophole continues to shape incarceration and labor practices across the United States.

To help people understand this issue quickly and clearly, we’ve created a new printable one-pager that breaks down:

• Why slavery is still technically legal under federal law

• How the exception clause shaped policies after the Civil War

• Why Virginia still needs constitutional language that explicitly bans slavery and involuntary servitude

• What people can do to support ending it

  
  

13th-one-pager.pdf

Download PDF • 4.76MB

This printable is designed to be simple, direct, and easy to share. It can be used at community events, campus organizing tables, legislative meetings, faith gatherings, or anywhere people are learning about the movement to abolish slavery in state constitutions.

Across the country, momentum is building. Several states have already passed constitutional amendments closing the loophole, and many others have active campaigns underway. Virginia has the opportunity to join that growing movement and ensure that our state constitution reflects what we already know to be true: slavery should never exist under any circumstance.

Download the printable, share it widely, and help spark the conversations that move this work forward.