This year marks the century-and-a-half anniversary of the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. On Sept. 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln set the date of freedom for the nation's 3 million slaves.

"As many of us know, slavery did not die when America abolished it in the 1800s," says Lucia Mann, author of Rented Silence (www.luciamann.com), which explores British Colonial slavery in South Africa, and the victims who survived the institutional brutality.

"The opening statement of the Declaration of Independence is, 'We believe these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' Almost 100 years later, in 1865, the 13th Amendment extended this belief to 'Negroes.' To this day, involuntary servitude is outlawed, and yet, it still exists!"

Mann has a personal interest in slavery. Her Sicilian mother was a sex slave and a World War II concentration camp survivor. As a child, Mann was forced to live with her father, who was also her mother's master, in South Africa.

"According to the United Nations, there are more than 27 million slaves worldwide, which is more than twice the number of those who were enslaved over the 400 years that transatlantic slavers trafficked humans to work in the Americas," Mann says.

Many slaves today are forced into prostitution while others are used as unpaid laborers to manufacture goods bought in the United States, she says.

"It's almost impossible to buy clothes or goods anymore without inadvertently supporting the slave trade," she says.

Mann, a Canadian and British citizen who considers herself an "American at heart," says Americans should dedicate themselves to opposing modern human trafficking, both worldwide and within U.S. borders, since the nation was largely built on the backs of slaves.

Human trafficking has become the second fastest growing criminal industry worldwide, behind drug trafficking, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. It's a $32 billion industry, and half of those trafficked are children. Half of the billions spent come from industrialized nations, according to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center.

So, what should be done when a U.S. citizen suspects a case of human trafficking? Mann says the following organizations are a good start:

• Catholic Sisters congregations, 888-373-7888: Grand events, like this year's 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London, are reportedly hot spots for prostitution rings involving trafficked slaves. The same was true for the 2012 Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, which is why nuns throughout the Midwest collaborated in an awareness campaign, which ultimately led to training cab drivers and hotel staff to recognize signs of modern slavery and how to report it.

• Victims hotline and on-line tips reporting: The Modern-Day Slavery Reporting Centre, created by Mann, is the first hotline - 1 (800) 610-7035, Ext. 227 -- in the United States and Canada for victims. It also provides volunteer translators (including Mann) for victims who don't speak English. The website, www.mdsrc.org, includes a section that makes it easy for third parties to report suspicious activity by clicking "File a Report." This section allows visitors to volunteer information.

• Federal Bureau of Investigation - report human trafficking, 1-888-428-7581: This number can be used 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST to report concerns to the FBI, which also offers plenty of information about human trafficking on its website.

• Various easy-to-find anti-trafficking organizations: Type in "human trafficking" on any online search engine and several sites will appear promoting various methods of combating modern slavery, Mann says. The important part is following through on an interest to help, she says.

"I have a firsthand account of dealing with national prejudice and human slavery, but I think many people are compelled to help victims of human trafficking because freedom is a universal desire," Mann says. "Any individual can make a difference in someone's life. That is the motive behind my books; I want victims to know that, like me, their tragedy can become their triumph."

About Lucia Mann

Lucia Mann was born in British colonial South Africa in the wake of World War II and lives in West Covina, Calif., and British Columbia, Canada. She retired from freelance journalism in 1998 and wrote three books to give voice to those who suffered brutalities and captivity decades ago, and today.

Since former President George W. Bush amped up standardized testing throughout the nation in 2002 with the No Child Left Behind Act, critics say results have been negative.

"The bottom line is that there is no clear correlation between standardized testing and the knowledge and skills kids will need to prosper in the 21st century world of work," says Peter Weddle, former CEO of Job Bank USA, Inc., and author of A Multitude of Hope: A Novel About Rediscovering the American Dream (www.AMultitudeofHope.com).

"It seems we're more interested in creating a homogenized workforce than a nation of individuals who have learned what their talent is and how to bring it to work with them," he says.

Consider these statistics:

• Annual state spending on standardized tests has increased by 160 percent - from $423 million in 2002 to $1.1 billion in 2008, according to the Pew Center on the States.

• Since 2002, the United States dropped from 18th in the world in math on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to 31st place in 2009, with a similar drop in science and no change in reading.

• The NCLB Act has drastically narrowed content, according to a study by the Center on Education Policy.

"This problem begins very early on. We take kids in elementary school and give them tests. Those who do well are designated as 'gifted and talented,' which means that everyone else is, by definition, ungifted and untalented. And, that's just not true.  In effect, we're devaluing all the capabilities that are not reflected in a standardized test," he says.

"Of course, we want to take care of our academically proficient kids, but we have to find a way to do that without signaling to every other child that they were at the end of the line when talent was handed out."

Too many Americans are stuck in old ways of thinking, from the classrooms of our elementary schools and colleges to the workplace," Weddle says. "But we're in a new economy and the path to the American Dream has changed. That means our old-school thinking must change as well."

He offers ways Americans can get back in the game as world leaders:

• We need to accept that the economy has changed: The first step to change is acknowledging it's needed, Weddle says. "Our employers are no longer competing with cheaper labor; they're up against smarter labor worldwide," he says. We hold a trump card, however: We have the most diverse pool of talent on the globe, whereas countries such as China and India have, by choice, a homogenous workforce.

• We must give career education greater priority: In China, every college student must, as a requirement of graduation, take a yearlong course that teaches them the skills and knowledge to manage their own careers effectively.  In the United States, that instruction is missing from college curricula. Yet, 53.6 percent of all college graduates under the age of 25 are now either unemployed or underemployed.

• We need to redefine talent so we can use it: "Our culture has taught us that talent is the province of exceptional people doing exceptional things," he says.  "We can see the talent of Lady Gaga, but not the talent of an accounts payable clerk.  And that's myopic.  We are all endowed with talent, but we have to discover it, nurture it and then bring it to work with us."

• We have to see ourselves as a 'work in progress': "The world of work is changing at warp speed - new technology, shifts in the global marketplace and changes in consumer tastes," he says. "That's why we need to be committed to continuous learning.  Regardless of our educational degree, years of experience or level of seniority, we need to be acquiring new skills and knowledge all of the time."

About Peter Weddle

Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, issued the following comment about the President's announcement that the administration will halt deportation and allow the issuance of work permits to those in the country illegally.

"The President's action is an affront to the process of representative government by circumventing Congress and with a directive he may not have the authority to execute.  The President once denied that he had the legal authority to do this, and Congress was assured more than once that the administration would consider individuals for this sort of deferred status on a case-by-case basis only, and that there was no plan to implement a broad-based program.   It seems the President has put election-year politics above responsible policies.  On top of providing amnesty to those under 30 years old, the administration now will be granting work authorizations to illegal immigrants at the same time young Americans face record-high unemployment rates.  Americans also deserve to know how this amnesty program for hundreds of thousands of people will be funded, and whether resources for border security and enforcement will be diverted.  Congress has the authority to write immigration laws, and with this order the President is disregarding the voice of the people through their elected representatives in Congress."