Unveiling Lady Liberty
Why the statue of liberty was “the greatest sarcasm of the 19th century”
On this day—October 28—in the year 1886, the Statue of Liberty was officially unveiled in New York harbor and (mostly) celebrated. Some women were pissed and protested instead.
The Statue of Liberty was the creation of French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and Gustave Eiffel, intended as a gift to the United States to celebrate the nation’s centennial. She quickly became—and still is—an icon of American freedom. The tablet she carries commemorates the Declaration of Independence. Her foot stands on a broken shackle to symbolize the end of slavery. Her figure recalls ancient Roman goddess Libertas and evokes the Egyptian Goddess of Isis and even the Virgin Mary. Hello, girl power. Freedom. Independence.
It took a while to get her all sorted out. First, the pieces had to arrive and be put together. And a spot had to be found. When public funds were needed to raise money for her pedestal, Joseph Pulizter of the New York World newspaper came to the rescue with a brilliant offer. Anyone who sent in a contribution—even as little as a penny—could get their name printed in an issue of the newspaper. As many as 120,000 people contributed.
Finally the big day arrived and there were grand plans to celebrate the unveiling. Not everyone was celebrating. The general public was not invited to the festivities on the island—that honor was reserved for a selection of important men with their wives and daughters. Everyone else had to content themselves with the parade—in a downpour—or get a boat.
The Suffs were outraged at the hypocrisy of a 151 foot tall depiction of liberty as a woman in a nation where women did not have the vote. Not only that, but they shared their disenfranchised status with infants, criminals and the insane. You can see why Matilda Joslyn Gage called it “the greatest sarcasm of the 19th century.”
The Suffs decided they were not going to let this hypocrisy go unremarked upon. They decided to rent a boat and join the flotilla around Bedloe Island. And here is where it gets tragicomical. Due to high demand and a lack of funds, the only boat they could rent was a cattle barge. The owner had not cleaned it as promised.
About fifty Suffs boarded the boat in the pouring rain and sailed down the Hudson to join the other boats. On the way, they gave speeches into the bullhorn. Whatever was said was lost to the wind, the rain, the brass bands, cannon fire and general commotion. But they were there and they never missed an opportunity to speak their minds and remind everyone to remember the ladies.
