Article includes Frederick Douglass' 1893 Lecture on Haiti delivered at the World's Fair in Chicago. Frederic Douglas served as the first U.S. diplomat to Haiti after the U.S. lifted its embargo against Haiti. The U.S. had halted all relations with Haiti after Haiti's independence in 1804 won by a 12-year war waged by Haiti's slaves against France. As a result, Haiti abolished slavery decades before the U.S. abolished slavery. Hon. Frederick Douglass, Ex-Minister to Haiti:
"My subject is Haiti, the Black Republic; the only self-made Black Republic in the world. I am to speak to you of her character, her history, her importance and her struggle from slavery to freedom and to statehood. I am to speak to you of her progress in the line of civilization; of her relation with the United States; of her past and present; of her probable destiny; and of the bearing of her example as a free and independent Republic, upon what may be the destiny of the African race in our own country and elsewhere..." read the full speech at http://blog.ijdh.org/haiti_justiceblog/2007/07/half-hour-for-h.html#more