You have the right not be held as a slave or to be bought and sold as property. (Begging to be somebody's love slave doesn't count.)

The 13th Amendment was passed in 1865 after a terrible Civil War fought over states rights and slavery. Many millions of African-Americans were freed.

If you're ever in Washington D.C. go to the Lincoln Memorial and read his words about God's punishment for the American sin of slavery. They're chiseled on the walls.

Sadly, injustices for freed slaves and their children remained long after the amendment passed. Courts ruled that negroes (a word used then) could be kept apart from whites in public places. Over the next 100 years, the American people approved three more amendments to help us get closer to racial justice.

We've made incredible progress. In 2009, an African-American became the forty-fourth president of the United States.