Culture and Society
PUBLISHED
Given to the United States by France in 1884, the Statue of Liberty has become one of the world’s most iconic landmarks.
Picture it, and you probably see its distinctive shade of green (though it hasn't always been so), the torch symbolizing enlightenment, and the distinctive diadem placed upon her head. You may even remember the Emma Lazarus poem The New Colossus, placed on the monument in 1903, forever linking the statue to immigration in people's minds.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall standA mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-handGlows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes commandThe air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries sheWith silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
One feature that often gets overlooked is the chains at the statue's feet, which is a shame as they better encapsulate the original purpose of the monument itself. Édouard de Laboulaye, who first proposed the gift, wanted to celebrate 100 years of independence, but also the much more recent abolition of slavery.
While undoubtedly the statue became iconic, many Black Americans at the time of its dedication saw it as hypocritical. Though slavery had been abolished, Jim Crow laws aimed at marginalizing Black Americans were in full force in the South, while the North very much remained segregated.
Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi originally planned that Lady Liberty should hold the broken chains in her hands, as a reference to this, but deemed it too controversial, instead placing the broken chains at the statue's feet. Bartholdi also made other changes to usual liberty statues. Though he chose a diadem, other statues depicting Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, portray her wearing a pileus – a type of hat given to freed slaves in Ancient Rome.
This message – a celebration of the end of slavery, as well as of independence – has been lost a little since the statue was first unveiled, like the colors underneath the outer layer of green.
An earlier version of this story was first published in 2024.
