Abolitionism
Abolitionism was a movement that sought to end the institution of slavery and the worldwide slave trade. It originated with the Quakers in Europe and eventually spread to other areas, including the British colonies in North America.
The first abolition organization formed in the United States was the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, originally known as the Society for the "Relief for Free Negroes unlawfully held in Bondage", in 1775.[1] Organizations such as these made use of the Underground Railroad, a loosely organized system for secretly transporting southern slaves into the free northern states. Slavery was outlawed in the United States by 1865 by the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, although specific states abolished it starting in 1777.
Although slavery is outlawed in most countries today, it is still practiced in some areas of the world, mostly in secret.