The Foreign Service Journal, June 2018

44 JUNE 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL “Men of color, to arms! Now or never! This is our golden moment. The government of the United States calls for every able-bodied colored man to enter the army for three years of service, and join in fighting the battles of liberty and the Union. A new era is open to us. For generations we have suffered under the horrors of slavery, outrage and wrong; our manhood has been denied, our citizenship blotted out, our souls seared and burned, our spirits cowed and crushed, and the hopes of the future of our race involved in doubts and darkness. “But how the whole aspect of our relations to the white race is changed! Now, therefore, is the most precious moment. Let us rush to arms! Fail now, and our race is doomed on this soul of our birth.” That activism proved crucial years later when General Ulysses Grant won the White House in 1868. The new president was eager to reward leaders in the black community like Bassett who had helped preserve the Union. Correspondence between Bassett and Douglass discloses that Bassett suggested in 1867 that the world-famous Douglass apply for the position in Port-au-Prince when the next president took office. But Douglass instead persuaded Bassett to put his name forward as the American minister to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which share the island of Hispaniola. (The United States would not begin using the title of “ambassador” until 1893.) This was a time before a professional diplomat corps, and appointments were always based on connections and politics. Nevertheless, Bassett proved himself more than up to the task. Once Grant won the White House, the new president made history by nominating Bassett as the first African-American dip- lomat. A Difficult Debut When the 36-year-old Bassett arrived at his posting in June 1869, the country was in the midst of civil war. Even as hundreds The new president was eager to reward leaders in the black community like Bassett who had helped preserve the Union. At left, Bryan Anderson, Ebenezer Bassett’s grand-nephew, and Chris Teal discuss the documentary film project. COURTESYOFCHRISTEAL