Charles Jacobs
Dr. Charles Jacobs is the Co-Founder and President of the American Anti-Slavery Group – a non-profit organization dedicated to eradicating modern-day human bondage and to promoting a non-politicized, bias-free human rights community.
Named by The Forward as one of America’s top 50 Jewish leaders, Jacobs has founded and led several highly successful start ups characterized by groundbreaking ideas and initiatives.
In July of 1994, he co-authored The New York Times article that broke the silence around modern-day slavery in Sudan and North Africa. The widespread response inspired Charles, a Mauritanian Muslim and Sudanese Christian to launch the American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG), giving birth to the new abolitionist movement in the United States.
As the Chairman of The Sudan Campaign, Jacobs helped build an unlikely left-right coalition that eventually persuaded the US Government to stop the genocide and slave raids in Sudan (1956-2005).
In April of 2001 Jacobs flew into South Sudan on a rescue mission that, under the guidance of the Zurich-based rights group, Christian Solidarity International (CSI), freed thousands of slaves. In 2002, Jacobs met President George W. Bush at the signing of the Sudan Peace Act.
Under Charles’s leadership the AASG raised funds that liberated tens of thousands of Sudanese slaves and played an instrumental role in 2007 criminalization of slavery in Mauritania.
For his efforts, Jacobs was presented with the first-ever Boston Freedom Award by Martin Luther King’s widow, Coretta Scott King and Thomas Menino, the Mayor of Boston.
In January of 2011, Charles returned to South Sudan to witness the historic referendum on independence. He also documented two slave liberation missions conducted by CSI.
Charles has been widely published, including in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The Jerusalem Post, and the Encyclopedia Britannica. He has appeared on local and national television and radio, including NBC, CBS, NPR, CNN and PBS. He currently writes a column for The Jewish Advocate.
Jacobs received his doctoral degree in social policy from Harvard University.
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