U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley commemorated slavery victims on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
The day is observed every year at the U.N. on March 25.
"We gather today to commemorate a shameful and brutal period in the world’s history. We remember the over 10 million men, women, and children who lost their lives and their dignity at the hands of the transatlantic slave trade," Haley started her speech.
Haley said that while we can't "change this part of our history," we can learn from it by remembering victims.
She talked at length about Elizabeth Freeman, a slave who sued and won her right to freedom in Massachusetts court in 1780. She quoted Freeman's words describing her time in captivity.
"If one minute’s freedom had been offered to me, and I had been told I must die at the end of that [one] minute, I would have taken it – just to stand one minute on God’s [earth as] a free woman," Freeman said.
Haley also discussed the painful history that continued as slavery persisted in the U.S. for nearly another century.
"Elizabeth won her liberty, but most slaves had to wait 83 years for President Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation," Haley said.
She added that, while it was not until the 1960s when the descendants of slaves were granted equality before the law, "that struggle continues" as the country continues to work to "extinguish hate and discrimination."
Haley finished her speech by reading a quote on Freeman's tombstone, which said that she "could neither read, nor write, yet in her own sphere, she had no superior or equal."
"May we go forward to build a freer and more inclusive world, informed by the lessons of history and inspired by the example of extraordinary people like Elizabeth Freeman," Haley said.