about us
Abolish Slavery VAis a growing coalition of grassroots organizations, human rights advocates, and those directly impacted by the systemic racism and exploitation of the criminal legal system. We act through legislative advocacy, raising public awareness and education, and community organizing and empowerment. Started in 2022 as a response to a need for leadership in state operations for Virginia in pushing for legislation that would amend the state constitution to fully abolish all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude, including as punishment for crime, once and for all. As a proud affiliate of the Abolish Slavery National Network, 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. ​
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Our Mission
Our mission is to create a society that is free from the chains of slavery and eradicate the oppressive practices that exist within the criminal legal system. We strive to promote social justice and uphold human rights by advocating for racial equity, dismantling systemic racism, and disrupting the prison industrial complex and carceral system that have perpetuated the profit-driven warehousing of bodies in our country. We believe that the abolition of all forms of slavery is an essential step towards achieving this goal, therefore, our main objective is first and foremost to amend the state constitution of Virginia to remove the exception clause and end slavery of all forms, including as punishment for a crime. Through community engagement, public outreach, and legislative advocacy, we will work tirelessly to pass legislation that will finally end slavery in our state once and for all.​
​​​We are part of a growing
national movement
Abolish Slavery Virginia is part of a dynamic and expanding national movement working to end slavery and involuntary servitude in every form. Our campaign advances both incarcerated-worker justice and immigrant justice, recognizing that prisons and immigration detention are interconnected systems of confinement, exploitation, and coerced labor.
Through the Abolish Slavery National Network, we work alongside directly impacted people, advocates, organizations, and communities across the country to abolish slavery without exception—including as punishment for crime. We also stand with immigrants subjected to detention, family separation, criminalization, and labor performed under coercive conditions for wages as low as $1 per day.
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Our commitment to immigrant justice is inseparable from our commitment to incarcerated-worker justice. Both systems confine disproportionately marginalized people, deny meaningful labor protections, and allow government agencies and private corporations to benefit from underpaid or coerced work. Freedom cannot depend on a person’s conviction, confinement, citizenship, or immigration status.
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We collaborate with our affiliates and partners to advance constitutional amendments, enforceable worker protections, immigration and detention reforms, and broader structural change. We stand in solidarity with movements confronting mass incarceration, immigrant detention, state violence, authoritarianism, and every system that profits from captivity and exploitation.
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Our success is connected to the progress of allies nationwide. We draw strength from the nine states whose constitutions now prohibit slavery without a criminal-punishment exception: Rhode Island, Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, and Nevada. Their victories demonstrate what organized communities can accomplish while reminding us that changing constitutional language must be followed by enforceable protections for incarcerated workers and detained immigrants. Nevada became the ninth state following its 2024 vote, joining Rhode Island, whose constitution expressly prohibits slavery, and seven states that removed their exceptions between 2018 and 2022.
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Together, we are making history. Together, we are building a future free from slavery. Join us in this vital cause and be a part of a movement that will leave a lasting legacy of justice and human rights for generations to come.
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NO SLAVERY.
NO EXCEPTIONS.
OUR Supporters
Abolish Slavery Virginia is proud to be supported by the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute’s Social Justice Fund and the Unitarian Universalist Fund for a Just Society.
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Their combined investment of $18,000—including a $7,000 organizing grant from the A.J. Muste Memorial Institute and an $11,000 grant from the UU Fund for a Just Society—is helping ASVA expand public education, strengthen our statewide coalition, mobilize communities, and prepare for first passage of Virginia’s constitutional amendment in the 2027 General Assembly.
We are deeply grateful for their commitment to grassroots organizing, human rights, racial justice, and the movement to abolish slavery and involuntary servitude without exception.
THE
COALITION
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Organizational Status
Abolish Slavery Virginia is a Virginia nonstock corporation with federal EIN 92-3443685. ASVA is currently seeking recognition of federal tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
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During this development period, ASVA works with the Virginia Justice Alliance, a recognized 501(c)(3) organization, as its fiscal sponsor. Contributions processed through our fiscal sponsor are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.