Millions of immigrants draw into the shore after a long and treacherous journey across unforgiving seas. They look up to see Lady Liberty in all her verdigris glory – a universal symbol of freedom and liberation towering above them. Standing at 93 metres with a torch in one hand and the declaration of independence in the other, she’s inspired by courage, grace, justice and, as it turns out, a Muslim peasant woman.
The iconic statue was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1876, and its origins have been claimed by many – and that’s only in the last few years. In 2020 social media was awash with ideas that Bartholdi had actually based his creation on an enslaved Black woman. Meanwhile, earlier this year similar claims had the statue down as Moroccan. The thinking here being that Bartholdi had discovered that the translation of Amazigh was actually “free man/woman”, and so decided to top the statue with an Amazigh crown. However, the idea has been contested, with some claiming that that seven-starred ‘headband’ was simply a common symbology for the time.
Conventional thinking takes us to Egypt and reveals that Bartholdi became captivated by gigantic sculptures after viewing the Nubian figures at Abu Simbel. And so, when the Egyptians were looking to construct a monument at the Suez Canal, he drew up a sketch of a woman dressed in what can be recognised as the traditional abaya and hijab, suitably named: “Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia.”
Bartholdi’s design was considered the epitome of grandeur and opulence – perhaps a little too opulent, unfortunately, as the Egyptians rejected his designs due to insufficient funds. Thinking on his feet, Bartholdi eventually took his plan to the US where, after a few adjustments, the Statue of Liberty was born. As Edward Berenson explains in The Statue of Liberty: A Transatlantic Story, “the statue began as a giant female fellah or an Arab peasant, and gradually evolved into a colossal goddess.”
Lady Liberty is no doubt a central and significant monument in the US. Not only does she represent the values the nation was built upon, but also its stance towards immigration. “Bring us your huddled masses,” as Emma Lazarus’ 1883 sonnet so famously says. So it’s perhaps here, away from an origin story, that the statue carries what could be perceived as its biggest contradiction. The US, a nation largely built on the ideas, skill, hard work and culture of its immigrants facing off with a hardline approach to the very notion of their being – firstly with the Trump administration’s ban on Syrian refugees in 2017, and then the subsequent “Muslim ban” (or Executive Order 13769 to give its official title) just one year later.
It’s an interesting notion. Lady Liberty, who embodies so much of the freedom that the US holds dear, being inspired by a Muslim women – a figure so often prejudged. And while the statue may have been reworked from its original purpose, when it comes to understanding the Muslim world in the West, did the veil ever really go away?
A version of this article originally appeared in the October 2022 issue.
