...Paris, where, once completed in 1884, it gave Parisians something to gaze upward at for six months, as their own culture-defining monument was still a few years away (which reminds me, Gustave Eiffel was a very busy man throughout the 1880s, as in addition to his eponymous tower, he also was responsible for Lady Liberty's metal framework.) Eventually, it was dissembled, put in 214 crates, and sent to Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor, where all the bits and pieces were gradually taken...
...out of the crates.
Now, before I go any further, you may be wondering if there's some particular reason I'm telling you all this. After all, I often tie my posts to a particular moment in time, usually a birthday but sometimes a historical event, even an anniversary. Is today the anniversary of the Statue of Liberty's dedication in New York Harbor? No, I'm afraid that's not until October. However, it does have something to do with this month. Keep reading.
One reason the Statue of Liberty remained standing in Paris six months after completion is though France agreed to foot the bill for building the thing and sending it to the United States, the Americans were expected to pay for and construct the pedestal the Roman goddess was slated to stand on. Except nobody at first wanted to pay for it, not Congress nor the state of New York. Eventually newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer led a drive to have the pedestal, what today we would call, crowdsourced. Americans donated small amounts of money that soon became a large amount of money. An auction also was held, and Emma Lazarus, a popular poet of the day, donated a...
...sonnet, the closing lines of which are:
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!
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!
Now, immigration wasn't on most people's minds when the statue was proposed and constructed. If anything, it had more to do with the Emancipation Proclamation, which had very much impressed a French anti-slavery activist named Édouard René de Laboulaye. The statue was his passion. Though officially a celebration of the USA's centennial, de Laboulaye wanted it to be as much a prize to the North for winning the Civil War as anything that went on in 1776. Unfortunately, de Laboulaye died before the statue was completed, but he got the ball rolling, convincing France's newly elected government--Emperor Napoleon III had just been kicked off his throne--to present Uncle Sam with a symbiotic birthday present, from one republic to another.
If immigration wasn't on most people's mind when the statue was being proposed and built, it was very much on Emma Lazarus' mind. She was Jewish and as such looked askance at the pogroms taking place overseas, knowing her coreligionists needed somewhere to go, and the United States seemed as good, even better, a place than any (Theodor Herzl begged to differ.) So she had an ulterior motive when composing her poem. It didn't stay ulterior for long. Having Lady Liberty overlooking New York Harbor, for no other reason than there was a nice little island there that nobody was using, combined with the massive immigration going on at the time and that would continue going on for decades more, necessitating the opening of nearby Ellis Island, soon made the whole thing seem predestined. As the writer Paul Auster puts it, the statue has become "a symbol of hope to the outcasts and downtrodden of the world."
At this point you may assume my reasons for doing this post are political and that I want to say something positive about immigration. Yes and no. My reasons are indeed political, but while I do have a positive view of immigration--all my ancestors came through Ellis Island--that's not it. Outcasts, however, are very much on my mind.
We now finally come to my own ulterior motive. This is a Pride Month post. New York governor Kathy Hochul recently signed a bill into law that bars the courts of her state from enforcing the laws of other states that might result in a child being taken away if that child's parents bring them to the Empire State seeking gender-affirming care. Hochul further stated: “Now, as other states target LGBTQ+ people with bigotry and fearmongering, New York is fighting back. These new laws will enshrine our state as a beacon of hope, a safe haven for trans youth and their families, and ensure we continue to lead the nation on LGBTQ+ rights."
Beacon of hope? Kind of like a lamp besides a golden door and that's what made me think of Emma Lazarus' poem. "Safe haven" made me think of what the Statue of Liberty has meant to so many people. See how I come up with these posts? One significant difference, however. This time, we're not talking about the outcasts and downtrodden of the world, but rather of large swaths of the United States. Right now it's mostly the T's that needs a safe haven, but if Ron DeSatanic gets in, or Donald Tramp returns, to the White House, and all other members of the party of
Of course, most of these refugees will be coming to New York by land and not sea. No problem. It wouldn't be the first time Lady Liberty was disassembled and moved somewhere else.
Just don't forget the part of that statue that's the most glam.
Excellent post, Kirk. Thanks for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Mitchell.
DeleteA terrific post, with photos I've not seen before. Thank you. It was good to read a history of the statue and how she became erected. New York state is quite a size and a fertile state. It could cope with an influx of glbti refugees from other states.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, the legislature in my own state of Ohio seems to be trying to play catchup with all the state government-sanctified homophobia we've seen in Florida, Tennessee, and elsewhere, so I may have to head out to New York. I wonder how Lady Liberty feels about hitchhikers.
DeleteGreat post! Really enjoyed your recap of Lady Liberty's history, especially how the pedestal was built. And yes, Hail Libertas! The three most prominent representations of the Divine Feminine still present and overtly celebrated in modern American culture are Mother Nature, the Statue of Liberty and Justice with her sword, blindfold and scales.
ReplyDeleteDebra, if you look in the sidebar, in-between the box that says, "The Company of Strangers" and the box that says, "Legal" you'll see a silhouette of the divinely feminine Justice.
DeleteHello Kirk, The close-up of Liberty's face looks like she is sneering at or reacting to the people you mention who are now trying to tear down her ideals. I'm surprised that "some people" have not tried to remove Liberty's tablet.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Jim, I don't know about the tablet (July 4, 1776 in Roman numeral's), but the Trump administration did try to change a line of Emma Lazarus' poem (which is on a plaque at the statue's base) to read ""Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet, and who will not become a public charge." It was blocked by an appeals court.
DeleteThe thought is scary...and I know I say this a lot to people, but voting is more important now. And yes your votes count, although many of my friends say it doesn't matter. But it does.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this post. I remember visiting the Statue of Liberty as a kid and later as an adult. And loved both times that I went.
JM, you live in Ohio, right? Very important election coming up August 8. Currently it takes just 51% of the vote to change the Ohio Constitution. If Issue 1 passes, that will be changed to 60%, a supermajority. It's a blatant attempt by the Republicans to keep a reproductive rights amendment from being added to the state constitution. They've admitted as much.
DeleteYup, I live in Columbus.
DeleteThis was an unlearn and relearn experience. I read somewhere, probably on the internet, that the statue was originally designed as a Muslim woman for Egypt but the project was cancelled and reused for America. Nope. If you want a long read, go to Wikipedia. The Egyptian statue was cancelled but didn't have anything to do with the American statue. The face is a generic face designed to be seen from all sides equally as well. I hope I haven't told to many people the wrong story.
ReplyDeleteMike, I did come across that story during my research. Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi proposed the Egyptian statue, but it was deemed too expensive by the Ottoman Empire. When the idea of a centennial gift to the United States came up, he revised the Egyptian idea and it became the Statue of Liberty.
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt_Carrying_the_Light_to_Asia