Please enjoy this slideshow of images and photos from The Secret Life of Lady Liberty. Buy on Amazon.com.
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Lady Liberty was the face on all U.S. currency until the 20th Century when President’s heads were featured for the first time. (1) 1803, designed by Robert Scot, United States Mint, Philadelphia; (2) 1808, designed by John Reich, National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Chase Manhattan; (3) Liberty with Indian Headress, 1857, three dollar proof, United States Mint, Philadelphia. National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution.
This same “Women of the World Unite” banner was carried at the head of the march down Fifth Avenue on August 26, 1970 when 20,000 people took to the streets of New York, and other cities across the nation, with slogans like “Don’t Iron While the Strike Is Hot.” Women were agitating for fair treatment under the law, equal access to higher education and social institutions, and an end to discriminatory practices prohibiting unmarried women from owning property or credit cards. Photo: Anne Hazlewood-Brady papers, Maine Women Writers Collection, University of New England, Portland, ME. Used with permission.
An early design study for the Statue of Liberty by Auguste Bartholdi. The left hand was to hold a broken chain, which Bartholdi moved to underneath her feet when he realized it would be too small to see from a distance. Photo: Musée Bartholdi, Colmar, reproduction © C. Kempf. Used with permission.
This rendering of a cigar store Indian Princess from ca. 1935 includes the word “Liberty” on her headdress. Index of American Design, National Gallery of Art.
The Baptism of Pocahontas, an oil painting by John Chapman in the U.S. Capitol, 1839, shows the quintessential Indian Princess as the “good Indian,” converting to Christianity and marrying a Euro-American, reinforcing the myth that European culture was superior and destined to overtake the Native Americans. Architect of the Capitol.
The popularity of Lady Liberty as a theme for folk art shows how much this goddess had permeated national consciousness. The Citizen Fire Company #3 used Lady Liberty with her pole and cap as their symbol starting in 1836. National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center, Smithsonian Institution.
The Libertas Americana medal was designed by Benjamin Franklin in 1783 to recognize the assistance of the French in winning the Revolutionary War. The profile of Liberty with the pole and cap behind her was copied for the first coins minted in the United States in 1792, though the unbound hair, which can symbolize sexual emancipation, was soon coifed. Wikimedia Commons.
The Statue of Liberty has been the site of several protests for women’s rights. On August 10, 1970 the New York chapter of N.O.W. staged an action at the Statue of Liberty that included hanging a 40-foot banner proclaiming “Women of the World Unite!” from the statue’s pedestal. They were trying to attract attention to their Women’s Strike for Equality two weeks later, organized in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Montage of newswire reporting created by Hieronimus & Co.
“L’Amerique Independante” 1778. This portrait of Benjamin Franklin in Roman attire with his arm around the Indian Queen and surrounded by goddesses including Liberty with her pole and cap, Minerva behind her with her shield and spear, and Mercury and Ceres in the left corner with the plow. Antoine Borel engraving after Jean Charles Le Vasseur. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
“Let the Advertising Agents Take Charge of the Bartholdi Business, and the Money Will Be Raised Without Delay,” Puck, April 18, 1885. Reproduction on display at the museum in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Author Photo.
Masthead design by Paul Revere for the Royal American Magazine in 1774 features the Indian Princess symbolizing America offering the peace pipe to the Genius of Knowledge. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Many statuettes like this one of Isis nursing Horus were later painted over to appear as Mary with the baby Jesus. ca. 680-640 B.C., Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD, Flickr Creative Commons.
Medieval woodcut showing the Whore of Babylon and the seven-headed beast. Penn Provenance Project, FlickrCreative Commons.
Medieval woodcut of the Whore of Babylon together with the Pope astride the seven-headed beast. The cover of an anti-Catholic pamphlet from 1546 that blames the Pope for disseminating false teachings instead of the true gospel. Penn Provenance Project, FlickrCreative Commons.
An influential piece from 1796 inspiring many copycats depicting the United States as an allegorical female called “Liberty” providing nourishment to the eagle. Engraving by Edward Savage called “Liberty In the Form of the Goddess of Youth Giving Support to the Bald Eagle.” Library of Congress.
Paul Revere’s commentary on the Boston Tea Party appeared in the Royal American Magazine in 1774, faithfully copied exactly from a British print that had appeared in London a few months earlier. America is depicted as a Native American woman in Roman robes being manhandled by several British ministers forcing her to drink tea. America spits the tea back into the minister’s face. Britannia covers her eyes in shame and an allegorical military man stands to the right doing nothing, while France and Spain look on from the left. Library of Congress.
“America” Martin de Vos as engraved by Adriaen Collaert II ca.1595. The Indian Queen is riding an enormous armadillo, an animal indigenous to the Americas and obviously drawn by someone who had never seen an armadillo. In the background are scenes of fierce fighting, and on the left someone is roasting a human leg while another person prepares more legs for the meal. Wikimedia Commons.
Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1888 in Washington DC, and used this allegorical lady in their logo on their phonograph cylinder packages. Columbia Records later branched into television with the Columbia Broadcasting System or CBS. Courtesy of Infrogmation.
Liberty’s head was ready in time for visitors to climb inside at the Paris Universal Exposition in 1878. Reproduction on display at the Statue of Liberty National Monument museum. Author Photo.
The Indian Princess disappeared as the emblem of the United States soon after the Revolutionary War, but she remained a presence in advertising, especially on labels of patent medicines and tonics like this one from ca. 1848. Library of Congress.
An Internet search for “secret” and “Statue of Liberty” will reveal hundreds of sites like these claiming she is the devil.
Dr. Bob Hieronimus gives the peace sign outside the Capitol dome where the Statue of Freedom watches over every deliberation of Congress. Notice the Phrygian cap in this version of “Armed Liberty” has been replaced by Minerva’s helmet topped with an eagle. Author Photo.
Pre-Old Testament Adam, Eve and the Serpent. Rendering of a Sumerian cylinder seal, ca. 2500 B.C. This scene is prevalent in Mesopotamian art of this time period and appears to show a god and a goddess seated on either side of a tree to which they are gesturing with a serpent nearby. Rendering by Amy Ford.
The Statue of Liberty was originally constructed in downtown Paris, and made an imposing sight towering above the rooftops. This engraving listing the foundry of Gaget, Gauthier et Companie where she was constructed also shows cross sections of the statue revealing the iron trusswork tower inside. Manhhai, FlickrCreative Commons.
The four corners of the world depicted as allegorical women was a popular motif in art appearing in tapestries, murals, fountains, porcelain, and in live performances. This version is from the 1603 edition of Iconologia by Caesar Ripa, a book owned by many of the founders of the United States. Note the symbols of wealth for Europe in the top left, and how Asia top right and Africa lower right are more fully clothed, while America in the lower left is mostly naked. Wikimedia Commons.
The Statue of Liberty started to edge out Columbia as her popularity grew with World War I propaganda posters like these. This one shows a Boy Scout handing a sword that reads “Be Prepared” to a muscular Lady Liberty who is wearing both Minerva’s helmet and the crown of seven rays. Library of Congress.
Soon after the Stamp Act in 1765, the Indian Princess was merged with Britannia and Libertas to stand for America. The masthead for the Massachusetts Spy newspaper was engraved by Paul Revere. Photo: Library of Congress.
Inez Milholland dressed as “The Herald” to lead the suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., March 3, 1913. Milholland would die unexpectedly three years later and become a martyr for the cause, and her image literally became the Herald. Library of Congress.
Woman Suffragists were the first ever to organize protests outside the White House. This one is labeled “College day in the picket line,” February 1917. When they decided to maintain their vigil later that year even after the U.S. entered World War I, these “Silent Sentinels” were attacked by opponents and then jailed for disturbing the peace. Library of Congress.
Readers in the United States had their first taste of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Vindication of the Rights of Woman in excerpts published in the Lady’s Magazine in 1792 accompanied by this frontispiece showing Liberty with her pole and cap receiving a scroll reading “The Rights of Woman.” The kneeling figure presenting the scroll is labeled as the genius of the Lady’s Magazine, and the figure behind them as the genius of emulation. Library of Congress.
Florence Noyes made a striking figure as a Liberty/Columbia complete with Phrygian cap, in front of the Treasury Building during the March 3, 1913 Suffrage parade in Washington DC. 20th century suffragists were careful to select symbolism that would appeal to the majority, and they brought allegorical robed females familiar from the nation’s past out in support of woman suffrage. Library of Congress.
The women of Edenton, North Carolina were satirized in the loyalist and British press for expressing their independent thoughts and publicly signing a petition in 1775 to boycott all British goods. Notice how independent thought among women was predicted to lead to promiscuous behavior and the neglect of children (under the table). Library of Congress.
A pre-Revolutionary use of an armed Liberty standing for America on this magazine title page designed by Eugene Du Simitiere, 1775. Library of Congress.
Bronze bust of Éduoard de Laboulaye, the father of the Statue of Liberty, created by sculptor Auguste Bartholdi. Replica on display at the Statue of Liberty National Monument museum. Author Photo.
Laboulaye referred to this 1830 painting by Eugène Delacroix as an example of what he did not want his Statue of Liberty to look like. As a result, Liberté Eclairant le Monde is fully clothed, wears no red Phrygian cap, and is carrying a tablet of law instead of a rifle. Wikimedia Commons.
The Family Bartholdi enjoying a musical evening at home. Auguste and mother Charlotte at the piano, and wife Jeanne-Emilie looking at camera. Photo: Musée Bartholdi, Colmar, reproduction © C. Kempf. Used with permission.
In Brazil, millions gather on beaches to honor Yemanja through ceremonies involving offerings to the sea, often little boats with dolls dressed in Yemanja’s colors and symbolism. February 2013, Bahia Notícias, Flickr Creative Commons.
Columbia supporting the regimental flag of the 3rd United States Colored Troops with a soldier proclaiming “Rather die freemen than live to be slaves.” Photo card of painting by David Bustill, ca. 1860-70. Library of Congress.
An illustration in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 17 April 1906 showing the Gottfried Tower in Springfield, Missouri where three Black men were lynched from the top rail of its wooden bandstand on the night before Easter eve with a replica of the Statue of Liberty towering above them. Library of Congress.
Thomas Crawford’s 1854 “Progress of Civilization” in the pediment over the entrance to the Capitol Senate Wing East Side and the Visitor Center. This detail shows the action to the right of the allegorical America who points to the “progress” in the form of the frontiersman chopping at a tree stump, followed by a Native American child and woman next to a grave (obscured here) with the Native American man in the classic “Dying Indian” pose. Author Photo.
“Amerigo Vespucci awakens a sleeping America” ca. 1575 by Jan van der Straet (Stradanus), engraving by Theodor Galle. National Gallery of Art.
“Mother Earth” by John Kahionhes Fadden. Native woman with flowers, cat tails and strawberries in her hair, and holding in her cupped hands earth soil with growing corn. Fadden says, “The Earth, among traditional Haudenosaunee/Iroquois and other Native nations, has the persona of a female, as does the moon. Plus, the sustainers, the Three Sisters, corn, beans and squash, have a female identity. All living things come from a female, a mother, and all things in our immediate surroundings come from her, the trees, grasses, animals, birds, the works.” Photo: John Kahionhes Fadden.
Editorial cartoons in the U.S. lampooned the Statue of Liberty project, especially the delay in fundraising for the pedestal, as in this 1884 example from Life Magazine describing how the statue would appear by the time the funding was complete. Reproduction on display at the Statue of Liberty National Monument museum. Author Photo.
The illustrated press helped spread the popularity of the Statue of Liberty long before it was completed, like this illustration from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Press in October 1885, courtesy of the National Park Service.
She’s wearing robes and holding a torch, and her name is nearly identical to the Statue of Liberty’s. This is “La France Eclairant le Monde” by A.L. Janet-Lange produced in 1848. Reproduction on display at the Statue of Liberty National Monument museum. Author Photo.
Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1888 in Washington DC, and used this allegorical lady in their logo on their phonograph cylinder packages. Columbia Records later branched into television with the Columbia Broadcasting System or CBS. Courtesy of Infrogmation.
Folk Art – Everyday objects were fashioned into Liberties and Columbias like this weathervane dated 1865–1875, now in the collection of the American Folk Art Museum. Photo credit: Gavin Ashworth.
Illustration of the Iroquois influence theory, and how closely the U.S. self-governing structure mirrors that established by the League of Iroquois over 500 years earlier. Chart rendered by Amy Ford based on the concept in “The Great Law” at Injunuity.org.
Engraved in Paris by Augustin Dupré under the direction of Thomas Jefferson, this 1792 Diplomatic Medal shows America as the Indian Princess holding a cornucopia and gesturing to her abundance of merchandise and welcoming Mercury the god of commerce. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
The first Congressional medals all used the Indian Princess to depict the new United States as in this medal awarded to Daniel Morgan in 1790 for his exemplary service during the Revolutionary War. Photo: Yale University Art Gallery.
Paul Revere’s design for an enormous obelisk made out of oiled paper and filled with 300 lanterns and erected in celebration of the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766. This is the earliest known use by an American artist depicting the Colonies as a Native American. In the detail magnified from panel one, the Indian Princess is dejected as the goddess of Liberty hovers nearby trying to stop British ministers, one in the form of a flying devil carrying the Stamp Act. In the final panel, King George is introducing America as an Indian to the Liberty goddess. Photo: Library of Congress.
An overdressed Britannia says she will “force you to obedience you rebellious slut,” to the Indian Princess standing for America in this anonymous 1776 engraving. Notice the feathers worn in the English lady’s hair, a fashion trend inspired by the Native Americans. Photo: The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University.
British cartoons like this one called “The Reconciliation Between Britania and Her Daughter America,” published by Thomas Colley in 1782, were the original source for identifying the English Colonists as the Indian Princess. Photo: Library of Congress.
The Roman goddess Libertas on denarius Like Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, the prime mover in the assassination plot against Julius Caesar, issued these Libertas coins in 42 B.C. to commemorate their liberty from the tyranny of Caesar. Photo: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc.
Minerva appears on the Army version of the Medal of Honor, the highest military honor that can be awarded by the U.S. government, presented to military personnel for extraordinary bravery in combat above and beyond the call of duty. Minerva also appears in the Navy version of this award, but the Statue of Liberty is in her place for the Air Force version. Library of Congress.
The torch and arm almost didn’t make it in time for the United States’ centennial, arriving just before the closing of the Philadelphia World Expo in 1876 where it was an immediate success with visitors lining up to pay 50¢ to climb to the top. Wikimedia Commons.
A 1911 broadside showing the Herald symbolism of the suffrage movement published by Harriot Stanton Blatch’s organization the Women’s Political Union which focused on the rights of working women and later merged with Alice Paul’s group to become the National Woman’s Party. The five stars on the flag represent the five states that had granted woman suffrage in their state constitutions by this time. Library of Congress.
The Statue of Liberty is hollow inside. Under construction in New York, reproduced from an 1886 engraving on display at the museum in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Author Photo.
The face of the Statue of Liberty ca. 1885, nearly unrecognizable without the hair and crown, was designed to have an androgynous and timeless expression. Reproduction on display at the Statue of Liberty National Monument museum. Author Photo.
This editorial cartoon published in 1892 in the Evening Telegram shows that the Statue of Liberty was not identified as a welcomer of immigrants until many years later. By 1890 anti-immigration activism was spreading as the rising flood of millions of new people crowding the cities spread disease and unsanitary conditions. Courtesy of the National Park Service.
In the Constantine Brumidi fresco on the ceiling of the Capitol dome, Minerva is portrayed as the goddess of wisdom and invention inspiring famous American inventors like Benjamin Franklin and Samuel Morse. Architect of the Capitol.
Immediately after declaring independence, the founders began trying to devise a Great Seal for the fledgling nation, taking three design committees and six years to come to a decision. This is the 1776 Du Simitiere design under the direction of Franklin, Adams and Jefferson. There is Liberty with her pole and cap, but she’s also wearing an armored breastplate. There is Justice with her scales and carrying a sword, though Du Simitiere’s original sketch showed a frontiersman wearing Native American clothing in this place. The Eye of Providence oversees everything. This was years before the Constitution’s radical break with tradition meaning the Colony charters still required religious test oaths from anyone elected to public office. From The Eagle and the Shield, published by the U.S. State Department.
The cornucopia appears in this British print in front of a Native American woman together symbolizing America. She is greeting the seated Britannia, with her shield and lion by her side, while a goddess named Concord looks on. Entitled “Britain, America, at length be Friends,” this etching and engraving appeared as the frontispiece of the London Magazine, 1774. Library of Congress.
“America” in the transitional stage between Indian Queen and Indian Princess, printed in England in 1771. She’s tamer and fairer now, but she’s still accompanied by an alligator and tropical foliage. Title page in A collection of plans of the capital cities of Europe, and some remarkable cities in Asia, Africa, & America, John Andrews, London. Library of Congress.
Light imagery was popular in suffrage paraphernalia of the early 20th century, like this one showing Votes for Women in a sunburst being adored by a robed female. Torches, stars and sunbursts were common with the popular logo “Forward into Light.” Women's History Collection, Division of Social History (Political Collections), National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
Mrs. David O’Neil as the Goddess of Liberty at the 1916 Democratic Convention in St. Louis. Women’s History Collection, Division of Social History (Political Collections), National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
In 1915 suffragists organized “An Appeal to Liberty” at the foot of the Statue of Liberty that included vaudeville actress Margaret Wycherly in costume as the Goddess of Liberty. Just as she finished reading the appeal to the crowd, the sun came out behind the statue and someone called upwards, “What says the goddess?” “Votes for women!” came the reply floating down. Library of Congress.
“America and History,” the first panel from the Frieze of American History, designed by Constantino Brumidi in the Capitol Rotunda. The standing figure is labeled “America” and wears the Phrygian cap. Seated at her right is the Indian Princess and to her left is a figure labeled History recording events. Both are balanced by eagles. Photo: Architect of the Capitol.
“Adam And Eve in America” by Theodor de Bry, 1590, published in A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia by Thomas Hariot. This engraving demonstrates both how the Europeans considered the Native Americans as living in a Garden of Eden in America, as well as how female the evil power of temptation was – note the upper portion of the snake in the tree is shaped like a woman. Library of Congress.
“Skywoman Falling” by John Kahionhes Fadden. Growing up with a tradition that the world was created by a female guiding spirit and that male and female humanity were created in balance would shape a culture’s approach to gender balance. Photo: John Kahionhes Fadden.
“Clan Mother’s Warning via War Chief” by John Kahionhes Fadden. Seated Seneca chief, with standing Clan Mother and war chief before him him. The wampum is the Women’s Nomination Belt that gives authority to the women to nominate chiefs and to remove them. The Clan Mother nominates a person to the position of chief and has the power to remove him from office for negative behavior. Two colonials in the background are learning about the operations of the government of the League of the Iroquois. Photo: John Kahionhes Fadden.
A Baroque version of the Indian Queen shows her astride an alligator with a cornucopia in the foreground. Detail from a fresco mural “Apollo and the Continents” by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo in the Würzburg Residence palace in Germany, dated 1752-53. Wikimedia Commons.
This 1792 painting demonstrates the early abolitionist movement arguing that the newly won liberty should be extended to slaves, too. Samuel Jennings was commissioned by the Library Company of Philadelphia, a group with anti-slavery inclinations, to create a painting showing “Liberty Displaying the Arts and Sciences, or The Genius of America Encouraging the Emancipation of the Blacks.” Slaves bow at Liberty’s feet while in the background more slaves dance around a maypole. Wikimedia Commons.
One of multiple versions of Marianne showing her in traditional costume and in various stages of partial nudity and fierceness. Library of Congress.
Portrait of Charlotte Bartholdi, the mother of the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, rumored to be the model for the face of the statue. Reproduction on display at the museum in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Author Photo.
One of multiple versions of Marianne showing her in traditional costume and in various stages of partial nudity and fierceness. Library of Congress.
One of multiple versions of Marianne showing her in traditional costume and in various stages of partial nudity and fierceness. Library of Congress.
In contrast to “The Awakening” (figure 12.8 in the book), this popular image from 1872 helped cement the belief that the United States had a Manifest Destiny to spread “civilization” from the East where there is light, to the West in darkness. The allegorical robed female, usually identified as Columbia, is carrying a schoolbook and leading the way by stringing telegraph wires and forging a trail for the railways behind her. Native Americans and bison flee before her. “Spirit of the Frontier,” sometimes called “Westward Ho!,” was painted by John Gast and popularized in travel literature and engravings. Wikimedia Commons.
Detail from the “We The People” mural by Robert R. Hieronimus, Ph.D., Baltimore, Maryland, 2013. Notice the Statue of Liberty is placed next to the Iroquois Tree of Peace and below is the Washington Covenant wampum belt. Photo: Stuart Zolotorow.
The Statue of Freedom on a three story-high mural in downtown Baltimore as conceived by Dr. Bob Hieronimus. Her skin tone in this interpretation makes her unquestionably a Native American. Detail from “We the People,” 2013. Photo: Stuart Zolotorow.
“One People, One Planet” mural by Dr. Bob Hieronimus, Baltimore, Maryland, 2009. This painting was produced together with Justin Williams and Karly Fae Hansen, during a live musical performance of Telesma. The Indian Princess and the pyramid with the eye in the triangle from the Great Seal showing universal symbolism. Author Photo.
Reproductions of the study maquettes Bartholdi made for the Suez canal statue called “Egypt (or Progress) Bringing the Light to Asia” that was never commissioned. “Progress lighting the way” was a very common theme in international statuary of the time. On display at the Statue of Liberty National Monument museum. Author Photo.
The Mystical Body of the Church was seen by Hildegard of Bingen as a powerful woman emerging from white mountain peaks, with a golden petaled flower opening from her chest. The figure in the center is thought to be the Virgin Mary, described by Hildegard as the “Sister of Wisdom.” From the Liber Scivias, copy of the former Rupertsberg Codex, c. 1180; St. Hildegard’s Abbey, Eibingen. Wikimedia Commons.
A typical Black Madonna statue is this one from Montserrat in Spain, where she is seated straight-back like a chair and the child likewise, sitting on her lap as if she is the throne of wisdom itself. Wikimedia Commons.
Goddesses were everywhere, as seen on this printed cotton toile “The Apotheosis of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington” ca. 1785. Washington drives a chariot carrying “America” wearing ostrich plumes in her hair and carrying a cadeuseus. Below Franklin is surrounded by Liberty with her pole and cap, and gesturing to Minerva with her helmet and shield, next to winged Victory and her trumpet. Yale University Art Gallery.
“Corn Woman” by John Kahionhes Fadden. “The sustainers, the Three Sisters, corn, beans and squash, have a female identity. All living things come from a female, a mother, and all things in our immediate surroundings come from her, the trees, grasses, animals, birds, the works,” says Fadden. Photo: John Kahionhes Fadden.
Columbia teaching John Bull his new lesson, watercolor etching, 1813, shows America as an allegorical female wearing the fashionable empire waisted dress, and carrying Liberty’s pole and cap while she lectures both France and England to treat her with respect. Library of Congress.
“We Came to America” by Faith Ringgold, acrylic on canvas; painted and pieced border, shows a burning slave ship in the background while the naked slaves are ecstatic and dispersed. A Black statue of liberty holding a baby lights the way of the slaves with her torch. Faith Ringgold ©1997, used with permission.
Yemanja is remembered as a mermaid who crossed the ocean protecting her captured followers on the slaves ships and transforming herself to stay with them in the new world. Wikimedia Commons.
Yemanja is often depicted wearing blue and white and appearing much like the Virgin Mary, as in this photo from New Year’s Eve, 2007, in Brazil when petitioners launch votives in boats and bathe their statues in the ocean for good luck. Franco Bras, Creative Commons.
An illustration from Puck Magazine in 1915 showing a robed female carrying a torch with her cloak reading “Votes For Women.” She is bringing the “Awakening” light from the West to the East, indicating the 11 western states that had ratified woman suffrage in their state constitutions by this time. Library of Congress.
Joan of Arc inspired the royalists of Laboulaye’s generation, as well as the militant suffragists the U.K. and U.S., as seen here on the cover of The Suffragette, a publication of The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), edited by Christabel Pankhurst. Drawing by Amy Ford.
Detail from the “Apotheosis of George Washington,” the 1865 Constantine Brumidi fresco on the ceiling of the Capitol dome. According to an 1897 history of the Capitol by George Hazelwood, the figure representing Revenge holding the two torches is a portrait of Jefferson Davis, and the white bearded fellow representing Tyranny is a portrait of Robert E. Lee. Architect of the Capitol.
Lithograph issued by Currier & Ives in 1884 as part of their racially bigoted, anti-immigration “Darktown comics” series. Entitled “Barsqualdi’s Statue of Liberty Frightening the World, Bedbugs Island, New York Harbor,” the words on the book read “New York Port Changes,” a commentary on the corruption of the harbor administration. The rooster is a symbol for France. Library of Congress.
The Statue of Liberty has inspired replicas and imitations all over the world. One of the most moving was the papier mâché model erected by student protestors in Tiananmen Square in 1989. The Chinese students called her “The Goddess of Democracy,” and while the tanks rolled over her after a few days, she has been recreated in bronze as a permanent monument in Washington, DC. Photo: James Wasserman.
Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1888 in Washington DC, and used this allegorical lady in their logo on their phonograph cylinder packages. Columbia Records later branched into television with the Columbia Broadcasting System or CBS. Courtesy of Infrogmation.
Lady Liberty makes the perfect symbol for just about any kind of political or satirical statement. Here Dr. Bob Hieronimus enjoys his vintage 1975 MAD Magazine featuring the mini-poster titled “Ms. Liberty,” which lettered the tablet to read “Women’s Lib 1975,” and a 2013 National Geographic that used the Statue of Liberty as a measuring stick to show how far the tides will rise around the world if all the ice melts. Author Photo.
A 1918 poster issued during WWI used Columbia wearing the Phrygian cap to urge Americans to grow a Victory Garden. National Archives.
The Statue of Liberty in the classic Uncle Sam pose, when war bonds were renamed “Liberty Bonds” during World War I. Wikimedia Commons.
The Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico is known as the “Goddess of the New World,” and has inspired millions with her liberational message. Wikimedia Commons.
This statue of Sacagawea and her child is one of several additions to the National Statuary Hall in the Capitol building that allow for prominent female and Native American and African American citizens to enter the artwork history of our nation. As a brown-skinned woman succeeding in a traditionally male position while retaining her maternal strength, Sacagawea was adopted by suffragists as a role model. Author photo.
At the beginning of the 20th century younger suffragists grew more active and organized parades and demonstrations where they often dressed as allegorical Ladies Liberty and Columbia. One of their main symbols was called “The Herald” who led the way forward with her trumpet.
Editorial cartoonists like the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Joel Pett of the Lexington Kentucky Herald-Leader juxtapose Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam to symbolize the conflict between the nation’s compassionate nature vs. its oligarchical tendencies. Used with permission.
Access to safe options for a woman to determine for herself when and how often to bring a child into the world is a liberty denied individuals in a patriarchal hierarchy. Here cartoonist Joel Pett makes the point with humor. Used with permission.
Joel Pett is following a cartoonist’s tradition of using Lady Liberty to symbolize the conscience of the nation in comparison to Uncle Sam representing the more selfish, controlling material desires. Used with permission.
One of multiple versions of Marianne showing her in traditional costume and in various stages of partial nudity and fierceness. Library of Congress.
Six state seals to show the prevalence of goddesses in our official insignia. North Carolina: Liberty with pole and cap and Plenty (really Ceres with the cornucopia); New Jersey: Liberty with pole and cap and Ceres with cornucopia, plus three ploughs in the shield; New York: Liberty with pole and cap and Justice with scales; Virginia: Virtus (Virtue as a Amazonian warrior); Pennsylvania’s Seal’s reverse: Liberty with pole and cap and sword; Wyoming: Liberty with a pole carrying a banner with the state’s motto “Equal Rights,” because Wyoming Territory was the first to grant women suffrage in 1869.