The Statue of Liberty

I taught American Studies at San Jose State for nine years, lectured on the Civil War, read about the Civil War, and thought I knew about the causes and results.  What I didn’t know until I read it in the New Yorker today is that the Statue of Liberty was inspired by the French abolitionist and Union supporter  Edouard Rene LeFebvre de Laboulaye.  Mr. de Laboulaye wrote in April, 1865, that if France ever overthrew its dictator, Louis Napoleon III, France and the U.S. should build a statue representing freedom.

We supplied the island for the statue; the French constructed it and shipped it over.  At Liberty’s feet, partially hidden by her robe, is the broken chain of a slave shackle.  The poem by Emma Lazarus, which includes the lines “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” is on a plaque inside the statue.

The statue was dedicated in 1886 after Reconstruction had ended and racial bigotry and Ku Klux Klan terrorism were rampant in the South.  A black newspaper in Cleveland said the torch should not be lit until America was free in reality and protected all of its citizens.