When people look at the Statue of Liberty, they see a large effigy of a woman wearing a crown, holding a torch up towards the heavens and standing with a broken chain at her feet. Stationed on Liberty Island, which is located in New York City’s New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty has captivated the imagination of millions since it was opened to the public on October 28, 1886. There have been many interpretations as to what this larger-than-life monument constructed out of copper iron actually symbolizes. What can be seen when looking at the evidence is that the symbolism behind the Statue of Liberty has evolved over its 130-year history to reflect changing realities in society.
Beginnings
The U.S. Department of the Interior's National Park Service (2016) notes that the Statue of Liberty was initially intended to be "a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States and is recognized as a universal symbol of freedom and democracy." So while the statue’s meanings have evolved over the years, it was initially meant to be a symbol of friendship between two nations that shared an appreciation for freedom as well as democracy. Referring to the sun headdress on top of the Statue of Liberty, Khan (2010) writes that "it has often been suggested that, because the statue symbolizes liberty's enlightenment of the world, the seven rays represent light shining across the seven seas to the seven continents" (p. 107). She acknowledges, moreover, that other interpretations are possible such as the idea that the seven rays on the headdress may represent the "seven wonders of the ancient world, and it is this ancestry on which the liberty statue is founded" (p. 107). So in addition to the statue being a sign of freedom and democracy, it was also viewed as a symbol of global enlightenment. Socio-political realities ultimately played a key role in the evolution of the statute’s symbolism, and this has been demonstrated over the years and decades.
Immigrant Connection
When the Statue of Liberty was first introduced in the late 19th century, it was seen as a symbol of hope for immigrants flocking to the U.S., notes National Park Service (2016), which is an agency of the Government of the U.S. It adds that "[b]etween 1886 and 1924, almost 14 million immigrants entered the United States through New York. The larger than life statute was to many of these immigrants an indication that they had arrived in the land of their dreams." Moreover, while the Statue of Liberty was a gift that symbolized a kinship between two nations, the immigrants arriving in the U.S. rather saw it as a sign that they were indeed welcome in the country where they wanted to start over. National Park Service further notes that "generations of immigrants" eventually came to regard the statue as "the Mother of Exiles," which shows how the meaning behind this statue evolved to reflect a new phase of the U.S.’s growth as a nation. The immigrant connection, according to the National Park Service, was difficult to miss not only because of the influx of newcomers, but also because of the "immigrant processing station at Ellis Island in 1982," which was in close proximity to the Statue of Liberty, as well as an Emma Lazarus poem called The New Colossus, which she donated in 1883. The now-famous poem personifies the statue as a beneficent entity "offering refuge to new immigrants from the miseries of Europe," says National Park Service. For the many immigrants who came to the U.S., the Statue of Liberty took on new meaning as a physical symbol of the hope new immigrants had upon reaching the shores of a better land. Moreover, the broken chain at the feet of the statue might have symbolized the newcomers’ emancipation from the persecution they had faced.
Conflict & Hope
National Park Service (2016) says that war tensions during the 20th century further cemented the idea that the U.S. was a haven for foreigners from Europe seeking a better life. However, what was not mentioned as much was "the very real drawbacks and difficulties of settling in the United States," says the agency, which adds that another aspect that was often de-emphasized was that the immigration connection "tended to favor the European side of immigration at the expense of trials encountered by newcomers from Latin America and Asia." Wartime realities played a role in expanding the meaning of the Statue of Liberty had come to mean to the teeming multitudes who had come to the U.S. for a better life. During this time, the U.S. provided a safe haven, which was a welcome alternative to the climate from which many immigrants fled.
Freedom Reigns
France gifted the U.S. with the statue in the late 19th century as an act of friendship. So it was only fitting when then French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in the U.S. on September 22, 2010 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, talked about the reasons behind the gift during an address. According to the Embassy of France in Washington, D.C. (2011), Sarkozy said that "[b]etween France and the United States there are bloodlines, and there is the love of freedomAll over the world, everyone knows what this statue represents: a free country where the people are free and where those who come, are welcomed.” While the symbolism behind the Statue of Liberty has evolved over time, that doesn’t mean that it has abandoned its former meaning. What it represents now, in other words, does not negate what it once signified.
Conclusion
The symbolism behind the Statue of Liberty has not remained static. Rather, the meaning behind the symbolism has evolved in scope to reflect changing socio-political developments in society. Even though the statue has been a popular tourist attraction, the symbolism remains. It is ever present, representing freedom, friendship and enlightenment to the world. As it has evolved, it has remained relevant to Americans who have been able to identify with the Statue of Liberty in one way or another. It is likely that the symbolism will continue to take on new dimensions going forward to reflect changes in society.
References
Embassy of France in Washington, D.C. (2011). The Statue of Liberty: A Symbol of Freedom and French-American Friendship, Retrieved May 8, 2016 from ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?article3014
Khan, Y. S. (2010). Enlightening the World: The Creation of the Statue of Liberty. New York City, NY: Cornell University Press
U.S. Department of the Interior's National Park Service. (2016). The Immigrant's Statue. Retrieved May 8, 2016, from https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/the-immigrants-statue.htm
