Baltimore-born Mary Denison (1806–1839) wears a high-waisted dress in an “empire silhouette,” a nod to the lasting influence of Napoleon Bonaparte’s imperial style on American fashion. Denison’s father, Edward Denison (1778–1845), was a naval merchant who sold goods like coffee, wood, and sugar that were produced by enslaved people in foreign colonies, including Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). The 1801 ad reproduced here lists goods arriving from the Haitian port city of Gonaïves on Denison’s ship Delight. Shortly after, on January 1, 1804, Haitian revolutionaries declared independence from France and announced the abolishment of slavery.