Recently, while scrolling down my Instagram timeline I came
across a profound image. This image was a statue that looked as if it was a
replication of the Statue of Liberty, but it was a black woman instead holding
what looked like a kerosene lamp. After my discovery of this picture I started
to conduct some research and found really interesting information. It is rumored
that this statue which is located in France is the original Statue of Liberty,
it is said that this statue was given to America by France to pay homage to the
African slaves that were brought to America by force. According to feminist, historian, and blogger
Toni La Nae, “the original Intent behind Lady Liberty... The Statue of Liberty
was originally a Black woman, the original concept of the Statue of Liberty,
Black soldiers played in the ending of Black African Bondage in the United
States. French historian Edourd de Laboulaye, Chairman of the French Anti-Slavery Society, who together with the
help of sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, proposed to the French government
that the people of France give the citizens of the United States through the
American Abolitionist Society, the gift of a Statue of Liberty in recognition
of the fact that Black soldiers won the Civil War in the United States.” When
this statue was given to America it was seen as despicable because of the
African features and the artist was told to construct another statue with white
features, but because of the often fabrication of history I am not completely
sure if this statue was absolutely the original state of Liberty. However, despite
the controversy around this statue the details and structure of it is making a profound
argument. A black woman holding a light to me is a representation of slaves not
only paving their path towards freedom, but the process that it took for them
to get to that point also. The light could be the light at the end of a dark
tunnel, a representation of the North Star and Harriet Tubman’s Underground
Railroad, or a symbol of freedom in itself. I suggest that the statue is a
woman and not a man for several reasons. First, women had to be the for their
family, not only did they have to keep their own spirits lifted, but the spirit
of their men and children also. Back in slavery blacks were not allowed to
build their own family structure if a slave owner noticed that his slaves were
married or with child they would separate the men from the women leaving the
kids with the woman placing more responsibility on the women. They had to
juggle caring for their master, themselves, and their children while trying to
maintain strength through it all. If it was not for the strength of the black
woman I do not think many of the slaves would have made it through this horrendous
time of their life which makes this statue even more of an accurate depiction
of black women roles in society during slavery. Even if it is not true about
this statue being the original statue of Liberty the fact that black women,
slavery, and freedom was contextualized and recognized in a statue makes this
piece of art a favorite of mine.
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