June 26, 2019

Last month, in May 2019, a new Statue of Liberty Museum opened alongside Lady Liberty herself on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. The museum details the history of the Statue of Liberty, from conception and completion to its current state. It also explains the evolving ideals of American liberty since the statue was completed in 1886, from the woman suffrage and civil rights movements to the welcoming of millions of immigrants from around the world. The museum also houses memorabilia and items that have been replaced on the statue, such as the famous original torch.

People admire the views from atop the Statue of Liberty Museum on May 16, 2019, the museum’s opening day. Credit: © Maria Kraynova, Shutterstock

Every year, some 4.3 million people take ferries to visit Liberty Island and the former immigration station on nearby Ellis Island. (Together, the islands make up the Statue of Liberty National Monument.) However, since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the National Park Service has restricted the number of visitors who can enter the Statue of Liberty’s massive stone pedestal and travel up to the crown. A stand-alone museum, then, was created to accommodate all visitors to Liberty Island.

The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886. Credit: © Matej Hudovernik, Shutterstock

After the the abolition of slavery and the end of the American Civil War in 1865, the French politician and historian Édouard Laboulaye proposed the construction of a joint French and American monument celebrating the ideals of liberty. Laboulaye’s friend, the sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, chose Liberty Island (then called Bedloe’s Island) for the statue’s location, and he began designing the massive monument. Construction of the statue—fully named Liberty Enlightening the World—began in 1875 at a workshop in Paris, and work on the pedestal began in 1884 in the United States. The last pieces of the statue arrived in New York in 1885, and the fully constructed statue and pedestal were dedicated in 1886.

The story of Lady Liberty’s torch is an interesting one. The torch arrived in 1876, ahead of the rest of the statue. It was displayed—along with the arm holding it—in Philadelphia and then in New York City. Originally, the torch was not meant to be illuminated from within. The gilded copper of the torch would reflect sunlight during the day, and lights were to be installed below it. By the time it was placed atop the statue in 1886, however, portholes had been cut in the torch to allow interior arc lights to be seen at night. The portholes were soon replaced with windows, and a sky light was added. At that time, visitors could ascend to the dizzying heights of the torch.

In 1916, floodlights were installed at the base of the statue and the torch lighting system was changed. People were no longer allowed in the torch or on the torch’s observation deck. Hundreds of windows were cut in the copper flame of the torch, and powerful lamps inside lit the torch.

In 1984, age and weather damage forced the removal of the original torch. The new torch, in place since 1986, followed the statue’s original plans and has no windows. Its flame is covered with gold leaf and glows with reflected light. The old torch toured the United States and was displayed in the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal before finding a home in the new museum.

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The Statue of Liberty National Monument includes Ellis and Liberty islands in Upper New York Bay. Credit: WORLD BOOK map

The Statue of Liberty Museum is accessible to all visitors of Liberty Island, and the grass-covered green building incorporates an environmentally responsible design and sustainable practices. The museum offers audio tours in 12 languages and ties together the American and international pursuits of liberty.

The popularity and symbolism of the Statue of Liberty have led to its replication in many parts of the world. The most famous miniature copies of the statue stand in France (naturally), Norway (where much of the statue’s copper was mined), Brazil, China, Israel, and Japan. Lego-brick Statues of Liberty stand among other world monuments at Legoland parks in Denmark and other countries. Finally, a “lazy” Lady Liberty sits (rather than stands) atop a building in Lviv, Ukraine.

November 26, 2018

On Nov. 26, 1883, 135 years ago today, the African American abolitionist Sojourner Truth died at age 86 at her home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Truth, whose given name was Isabella Baumfree, was the first black woman orator to speak out against slavery. She traveled widely through New England and the Midwest on speaking tours. Her deep voice, quick wit, and inspiring faith helped spread her fame.

Sojourner Truth died 135 years ago today on Nov. 26, 1883. Credit: Chicago History Museum

Baumfree was born a slave in Ulster County, New York. She became free in 1827 under a New York law that banned slavery. In 1843, she experienced what she regarded as a command from God to preach. She took the name Sojourner Truth and began lecturing in New York. (Sojourner is a word similar to wanderer or traveler.) Her early speeches were based on the belief that people best show love for God by love and concern for others. She soon began directing her speeches toward the abolition of slavery.

In 1864, Sojourner Truth visited President  Abraham Lincoln in the White House. She stayed in Washington, D.C., and worked to improve living conditions for blacks there. She also helped find jobs and homes for slaves who had escaped from the South to Washington. In the 1870′s, she tried to persuade the federal government to set aside undeveloped lands in the West as farms for blacks. But her plan won no government support.

In 1997, the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) included a rover named Sojourner in Sojourner Truth’s honor as part of the Mars Pathfinder mission.

August 14, 2018

On Aug. 13, 1818, 200 years ago yesterday, American abolitionist and suffragist Lucy Stone was born near West Brookfield, Massachusetts. Stone helped organize the women’s rights movement in the United States. She was one of the first American women to lecture on women’s rights and probably the nation’s first married woman to keep her maiden name. After a life spent fighting against discrimination and inequality, Stone died at age 75 on Oct. 18, 1893.

Lucy Stone, an American leader of the women’s rights movement, was born 200 years ago on Aug. 13, 1818. Credit: Library of Congress

Few women of Stone’s day went to college, but she began to teach school at the age of 16 to earn money so she could go. She entered Oberlin College in Ohio in 1843 and joined the abolitionist movement. In 1847, she became one of the first Massachusetts women to earn a college degree. After graduating from college, Stone lectured in the United States and Canada on abolitionism and, later, on women’s rights. She viewed slavery and widespread discrimination against women as linked evils of society. Stone helped organize the first national convention on equal rights for women, held in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1850.

In 1855, Stone married Henry Blackwell, a merchant and abolitionist. They omitted the word obey from their marriage vows and promised to treat each other equally. Stone continued to use her maiden name and even refused to open mail addressed to Mrs. Henry Blackwell. The phrase Lucy Stoners came to refer to women who kept their maiden names after marriage.

In 1869, Stone helped establish the American Woman Suffrage Association, which worked for women’s right to vote. Stone also founded the group’s newspaper, Woman’s Journal. Stone worked with and influenced such fellow women’s rights activists as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

In 1968, the U.S. Postal Service included Stone in its “Prominent Americans” stamp series. In 1999, a bronze bust of Stone was placed in the Massachusetts State House in Boston. In 2003, sculptor Meredith Bergmann included Stone in the Boston Women’s Memorial that also features former First Lady Abigail Adams and African American poet Phillis Wheatley.