Sunday, March 24, 2013

ORIGINAL STATUE OF LIBERTY WAS A BLACK WOMAN


The original statue of Liberty gifted by the French to America was not the stern-faced green Roman looking woman that you see today holding a tablet and a torch. The original and first Statue of Liberty was a Black woman holding the broken shackles of slavery. She was refused on the notion that the black statue would be a constant reminder of the liberty that the slaves earned, from successfully fighting in the American Civil War. The true Black Statue of Liberty remains rejected, forgotten and lost in broken fragments of Black history.

Why was the Statue of Liberty Really Created?

French historian Edouard de Laboulaye, chairman of the French Anti-Slavery Society, together with sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, proposed to the French government that the people of France should present the United States – through the American Abolitionist Society – the gift of a Statue of Liberty in recognition of the Black soldiers who won the Civil War in the United States, earning themselves their freedom. It was widely known then that it was Black soldiers who played the pivotal role in winning the war, and this gift was supposed to be a tribute to their prowess.

Why was the Black Statue of Liberty Rejected?

When the statue was presented to the U.S. Minister to France in 1884, it was rejected on the notion that the dominant view of the broken shackles would be offensive to a defeated U.S. South, who despised their former captives and would not want to be faced with a constant reminder of Blacks winning their freedom.

When Did This Hidden Piece of History Publicly Resurface?

Dr. Jack Felder, a biochemist, educator, author and historian, asked this startling question in a New York newspaper, the Daily Challenge (July 16, 1990):

Did you know that the original Statue of Liberty was to have been a Black woman being liberated from slavery with broken chains in her hands and at her feet and that she also had a dark Negroid face?

In the newspaper article, Dr. Felder further writes that:

Eventually, Bartholdi built a model faithful to the wishes of de Laboulaye with broken chains at her feet and a broken chain in her left hand and a distinctly Negroid face. The broken chains were to show the broken chains of slavery.

This list is of the documents of proof, presented in the same newspaper article by Dr. Felder:

1.) You may go and see the original model of the Statue of Liberty, with the broken chains at her feet and in her left hand. Go to the Museum of the City of NY, Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street write to Peter Simmons and he can send you some documentation.

2.) Check with the N.Y. Times magazine, part II_May 18, 1986. Read the article by Laboulaye.

3.) The dark original face of the Statue of Liberty can be seen in the N.Y. Post, June 17, 1986, also the Post stated the reason for the broken chains at her feet.

4.) Finally, you may check with the French Mission or the French Embassy at the U.N. or in Washington, D.C. and ask for some original French material on the Statue of Liberty, including the Bartholdi original model.

The Journey of Edouard de Laboulaye and Frederic Auguste Bartholdi in Creating the Statue of Liberty

Edouard de Laboulaye, an internationally renowned lawyer and author of a three-volume history of the United States, first presented the idea of a symbol of the end of American slavery at a dinner party in 1865, at his country home near Versailles, France, among many abolitionists including Victor Hugo and Frederick Auguste Bartholdi.

After Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States in 1861, the French liberals and abolitionists including Hugo, Bartholdi, and Laboulaye urged Lincoln to free the slaves even if Civil war resulted.

When the war ended in 1865, French abolitionists again urging Lincoln to free all slaves, Laboulaye and Bartholdi requested permission to build and dedicate a colossal monument to symbolize the freeing of all slaves in America. The assassination of Lincoln saw a pivotal turning point for the intended Black Statue of Liberty.

Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, an outstanding French sculptor had a life changing experience the year of 1855 when he toured Egypt and saw the magnificent colossal monuments and statues created by the ancient Black Egyptians. It was this experience alongside his ties with Laboulaye that inspired Bartholdi’s creation of a giant Black ex-slave female with broken chains at her feet and left hand. One which was readily accepted in France, by 1881 some 100,000 people and 181 towns throughout France had contributed money.

In 1871, Frederic Bartholdi at the urging of Laboulaye travelled to America to promote his idea of a colossal statue symbolizing the end of chattel slavery in the United States. He took with him a large terra-cotta statue and many drawings to clearly illustrate the Black Statue of Liberty. Bartholdi found little American support for his African slave model. In 1878, as the African head of Miss Liberty first went on display at the Universal Exposition in Paris, France, rampant reaction raged throughout the American South.

Unfortunately, Bartholdi was forced to conform to specific white supremacist ideals that saw the statue evolve to the Statue of Liberty we see in New York today. The African face was re-sculptured into the face of his mother Madame Bartholdi and a tablet of law tucked into her folded arm that bears the date July 4, 1776, replaced the broken chains in the Black female slave’s left hand. Ironically, the chains were left at the feet but the meaning changed from broken American slavery to broken English tyranny.

http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2012/07/why-was-the-black-statue-of-liberty-rejected-2352528.html

15 comments:

  1. Was a good post until you brought up the idea that it was the Black race that won the Civil War. "...in recognition of the Black soldiers who won the Civil War in the United States, earning themselves their freedom. It was widely known then that it was Black soldiers who played the pivotal role in winning the war, and this gift was supposed to be a tribute to their prowess..." prove it to me

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    1. The Union was losing battle after battle to the CSA. President Lincoln came to the decision to increase the numbers of his forces and made the southern forces fight on multiple fronts. This was done with black troops, like the 54th Mess (USCT). It's the Library of the Congress. They did turn the tide of the war.

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    2. The Union was losing battle after battle to the CSA. President Lincoln came to the decision to increase the numbers of his forces and made the southern forces fight on multiple fronts. This was done with black troops, like the 54th Mess (USCT). It's the Library of the Congress. They did turn the tide of the war.

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    3. The turning point of the Union finally gaining critical victories over the Confederates came on July 1-3rd 1863 at Gettysburg.The crucial turning point of the whole three day battle occured with Confederate Gen. Pickett and his charge, which destroyed his entire Division.
      The 20th Maine saved the Union Army at Gettysburg,which allowed the Union to claim a victory.
      This victory gave Pres.Lincoln the victory he needed to pass the Emancipation Proclamation which called for the universal end of slavery in the South.
      Every salve holder was a Democrat.
      The party of Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton.
      These are indisputable historic facts.
      Most black soldiers were kept back as far as possible by Union officers,from combat due to the Confederates policy of re-enslaving or murdering captured black soldiers.Not withstanding the huge losses suffered by the 54th Massachusetts.The Confederates shot the wounded black soldiers when they had opportunity.
      But again the Union turning point in the Civil War was the victory at Gettysburg by the 20th Maine saving the collapsing left flank of the Union Army.
      Making erroneous and utterly false statements just doesn`t help anyone.

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    4. "Every salve holder was a Democrat.
      The party of Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton.
      These are indisputable historic facts."

      Every SLAVE holder was Democrat. Okay. Google/Wiki/Whatever this:

      Francis P. Blair
      Benjamin Burton
      George D. Blakey
      A.A. Burton
      Robert Cook
      James Glaxebrook
      John Underwood
      Many more whose records have most likely gone with the wind.

      Take a good guess though at what they have in common. Hint: They weren't Democrats...

      MOST white southerner slaveholders were Democrats NOT ALL slaveholders were southern Democrats because these men were REPUBLICANS. The party of your president Dotard trump(who was once a Democrat himself. Go figure.) and Moscow mcConnell. Take that to your indisputable fact bank.

      To make such an erroneous and utterly false statement just doesn't help anyone especially you.

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  2. That statue looks amazing! I Wish that there was a massive statue of a black woman holding her broken shackles standing over New York. What a powerful image. I think that it would make people think a little every time they saw it. Thank you for this fascinating post :) Someone should build a sculpture like this... I wonder if there are any public art budgets that could pay for it?

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  3. Craik Farkas

    Its always a bad post if African people male's or female's are depicted in a positive light.Dammed if we do dammed if we dont. Why am I not surprised at your statement?

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  4. it is only a bad post when the person writing it makes false or //and misleading statements such as those in this article because they can't stand the idea that it was 2 million white Christian males who fought to free 4 million black Americans from the evils of slavery. that was 6% of America who fought and died for them.

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  5. I think the statue was absolutely beautiful and would mean much more than the ugly statue of liberty. America might be a more peaceful place if it had been accepted. In my opinion that should be there together with a statue of the native American who suffered greatly at the hands of my ancestors. Sometimes I am ashamed to be white.

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    1. What an utterly stupid statement to apologize for being Caucasian.
      I grew up up on an American Indian Rez.
      The black slaves came from West Africa.
      Black tribal leaders and Muslim traders ran a century`s long business of capturing the slaves that were then transshipped to America,and the Carribean Islands.
      The Republican party was founded in 1854 in Wisconsin
      with stated goal of ending slavery which was entirely championed and promoted by Southern Democrats.My family also Southern Democrats came from Holly Springs ,Mississippi.
      Bill Clinton`s biological father William Jefferson Blythe Jr.had sold some land to my great grand parents reportedly in court records and had ancestors fight for the South
      When Lincoln wanted to send freed black slaves back to Africa,the nation of Liberia was ruled until recently ,by descendants of freed American salves..
      Ironically,blacks in Liberia continued their slavery institutions until the 1930`s.
      Most Indian Tribes kept slaves.
      If you want to renounce your heritage,then refrain from using the products invented by Caucasians.
      Electricity,medical advances,aircraft,automobiles,air conditioning,computers,and virtually every invention of the last 200 years.
      Go live in a log house,try farming with draft horses,and basically try living off grid.
      Screw that crap about how bad whites are.

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  6. https://www.snopes.com/history/american/statueofliberty.asp

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  7. Amazing how you closet Racist deny facts from History. The story is true do some Damn research. The lie, the Civil War was Not fought to end Slavery.. It was fought to keep the South from leaving the Union.

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  8. Histroy like this could give youth something to belive in and their lives matter

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  9. I know that we matter and do not have to prove it. After 500 years of persecution we are still gracious, loving and forgiving. We love us and have enough love for you too. One day you will grow up.

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