It's a little hard, though, to argue that Haiti served as much of a beacon for very long.  The country had so much trouble as it went forward that it did not exactly inspire people to think that government by former slaves was going to be viable.

One of Haiti's major contributions was to provide a beacon of hope for slaves in the Western Hemisphere. The fact that the second nation to gain its independence in the region was established by a massive slave revolt terrified slaveholders in the West and inspired slaves. A number of slave revolts, some abortive, in locations from Guadeloupe to Charleston to Richmond, VA were directly inspired by the Haitian Revolution. In other words, Haiti's very establishment was a contribution to the world.