Students
Opposing Slavery
Students Opposing Slavery (SOS) is an award-winning youth education program for students dedicated to continuing Lincoln’s fight for freedom by raising awareness about modern slavery within a high-risk population – teenagers. Learn more about Students Opposing Slavery.
About the Initiative
In October 2016, SOS received the Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons at the meeting of the President’s Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the White House. Secretary of State John Kerry presented the medal to SOS students and Cottage staff members. For more on the award, please read our press release.
Our Goals
- Raise awareness of human trafficking
- Empower youth leaders of the anti-trafficking movement at the annual Summit
- Create a wave of education and action
- Encourage others to join the fight
- Continue Abraham Lincoln’s fight for freedom
SOS International Summit
A cornerstone of the SOS program is the week-long Students Opposing Slavery International Summit, which President Lincoln’s Cottage first launched in 2013. At the Summit, dozens of teenagers from around the world come together to gain resources and training to take action against human trafficking in their own communities. Started in 2012 by four teenagers who believed that they had a responsibility to do what they could to end slavery in their time, SOS has flourished under the auspices of President Lincoln’s Cottage.
Today, SOS is a growing network of young abolitionists from around Washington, D.C., the nation, and the world who are working together to end slavery.
The 2026 SOS Summit will take place from June 21 – June 27.
International students should apply by February 11. The deadline for US students to apply is March 25.
Watch this video to learn more about the Summit and its impact. Video by Brian Rimm.
2011
Started in
Over 200
students have attend the Summit
24 countries
Participation from
Contact
Interested in learning more about SOS? Contact the Education Department at President Lincoln’s Cottage at [email protected] or call 202-829-0436 x227.
Donate
To donate to the SOS program, go to our “Donate” page and write “Students Opposing Slavery” in the Special Instructions box. Thank you for your generous support of this program, as we continue Lincoln’s fight for freedom.