Law Commons^™

Slaves For Rent: Sexual Harassment In Housing As Involuntary Servitude, Aric K. Short

Faculty Scholarship

Recognizing the various shortcomings of the FHA when applied in the context of post-acquisition harassment in general, and sexual harassment in particular, this Article explores an alternative vehicle for victims of such abuse: the Thirteenth Amendment. Ratified in 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment provided a formal legal end to African chattel slavery across the United States. But the Thirteenth Amendment has legal importance beyond the abolition of slavery. The Amendment was and remains both a powerful liberating force and a guarantor of fundamental rights for all Americans. In particular, the text of the Thirteenth Amendment extends its reach beyond slavery to …