Winner — The Collector’s September Writing Challenge
The Statue of Liberty is the Embodiment of Juneteenth
Did You Think It Was Created to Honor Immigrants?
Most Americans learned that France gifted the Statue of Liberty to the United States. However, people often overlook the purpose of the gift. If you ask Americans about the importance of The Statue of Liberty, most will insist it symbolizes immigrants’ migration. While it is true that the statue has come to signify a beacon of hope for immigrants, The French did not create it for that purpose.
The white-washed history of the Statue of Liberty distorts its meaning. The French abolitionist, Édouard de Laboulaye, and the sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, designed and gifted the Statue of Liberty to celebrate America’s decision to free enslaved African people, finally becoming a worthy beacon of freedom for all the world to admire.
Lady Liberty was originally designed to celebrate the end of slavery, not the arrival of immigrants. Ellis Island, the inspection station through which millions of immigrants passed, didn’t open until six years after the statue was unveiled in 1886. The plaque with the famous Emma Lazarus poem — “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” — wasn’t…
