Amidst the ire and confusion over Donald Trump's immigration ban, stood the Statue of Liberty and the lady has a story of her own. Historians say that America's famous icon of freedom and diversity is based on Arab women.
The USA Today reported historian Edward Berenson saying that the designer of the statue was Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor, who decided to build a monument for the opening of the Suez Canal in Egypt around 1860s. "And that monument was going to be a woman in the southern opening of the canal holding up a torch over her head and that woman was dressed in Arab peasant garb," Berenson says.
But the project was never realized as the ruler of Egypt, Khedewi Ismail Pasha, went bankrupt. The statue was meant to be a lighthouse designed as an Arab woman with its torch meant to guide sailors on their way when they reached the northern entrance of the Suez Canal.
Brenson mentioned that the artist was planning to give a gift to the US to celebrate the centennial of the American Revolution way before Egypt's ruler asked Bartholdi for the statue. Brenson explained, "A couple of years earlier, Bartholdi and his friends decided they were going to give a gift to the United States that was going to celebrate the centennial of the American Revolution. And then, Bartholdi thought, 'Ah! I've got a great idea! I can reuse this image but change it to fit the American Revolution."
Lady Liberty wore an Arab garment when Bartholdi decided to change the clothes reminiscent of a Greco-Roman goddess of liberty. He sought help from Gustave Eiffel, the prominent maker of the Eiffel Tower, as his structural engineer.
The group finished Lady Liberty in France before shipping it to the US. It was unveiled on October 28, 1886.
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