Most of us have a section or two on American history growing up, and the Statue of Liberty always plays a big part in those lessons.
Where she came from, what the words engraved there say, where she’s located, why she’s green…but there is one thing most of us never learn.
Maybe because we don’t spend too much time staring at her feet.
The Statue of Liberty was gifted to the States by France in 1884 and remains one of the world’s most recognizable monuments.
So is the poem written by Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus, which was placed on the statue in 1903.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With 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!”
You might not have noticed – or have forgotten to ask about – why there are broken chains on Lady Liberty’s feet, though.
They harken back to the original purpose of the monument, which was to celebrate not only America’s 100 years of independence, but its recent decision to abolish slavery.
At the time, Jim Crow and segregation continued to marginalize and harm Black Americans all over the country, though, which would likely have caused many of those oppressed to view the gift as hypocritical.
Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, who planned the construction, wanted to put the broken chains on her hands, but eventually had to admit they were controversial and would be better off hidden at her feet.
He also picked a diadem for her head as opposed to the previously planned pileus, which was a type of hat given to freed slaves in Ancient Rome.
The diadem is another Ancient Roman symbol of freedom.
In fact, one could argue that this meaning has been completely lost to time.
And if one is at all familiar with American history, that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise at all.
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