... 1888, at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, Frederick Douglass (right), the abolitionist and women's suffragist who had escaped slavery in 1838 and written and spoken out about his experiences ever since, became the 1st American of African ancestry proposed for nomination as President of the United States. Benjamin Harrison would win the GOP nomination 2 days later; soon after his election, Harrison named Douglass U.S. minister to Haiti. (For an excellent analysis of Douglass' transformative midcentury journey to famine-struck Ireland, see Peter D. O'Neill, “Frederick Douglass and the Irish,” 5 Foilsiú 57 (2006) (available here).... 1894, the International Olympic Committee, an international, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization, was founded as a means to revive the famed athletic games of ancient Greece.
