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The Emperor and the Abolitionist: A Brazilian Royal Visits the U.S.

By Keila Grinberg

The possibility of an encounter between Brazil's Dom Pedro II and Frederick Douglass in 1876 raises questions about what might have been.

This article is the latest installment of The Long View, AQ's quarterly look back at forgotten episodes in Latin American history.

The day was May 10, 1876. The place: Fairmont Park, Philadelphia, and the grand opening of the Centennial Exposition celebrating 100 years of American independence. Honored guests Dom Pedro II and Teresa Cristina, emperor and empress of Brazil, had come to the United States to join President Ulysses S. Grant in celebrating the birth of a republic — the sort the monarchs...

Read this article on the Americas Quarterly website. | Subscribe to AQ.

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