The
Secret Life of Lady Liberty – Goddess in the New World, Robert
Hieronimus, Ph.D. and Laura E. Cortner, Destiny Books, Rochester, VT, 2016,
430pp, $19.95.
The Statue of Liberty is more than a green lady in a sexless,
shapeless robe, standing in New York Harbor with a book cradled in one arm and
a torch held aloft in the other hand.
When I first received
The Secret Life of Lady Liberty for
review, I thought, “How much history could there be? Auguste Bertholdi used his
mom as a model and built a statue that he gifted to America.” I was so wrong!
This is an amazing book that offers a
deep and insightful scrutiny of the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty “from the
Neolithic Earth Mother, to Mary Magdalene, Columbia, and Joan of Arc.”
The Secret Life of Lady Liberty contains information about the
Statue of Liberty, as well as the history of women in America, and even
America’s beginnings that our history books missed, glossed over, or
intentionally omitted. Lady Liberty is about balance and equality, yet there is
a major disconnect between the depiction of “Liberty” as female while women
have been suppressed throughout the history of the United States.
Our Founding Fathers
adopted many Native American principals in writing our Constitution, and the
first depictions of “Liberty” in North America were Native American. The
dichotomy was in the treatment of women. The Indigenous people respected women
and honored their wisdom; however, the tradition of European colonists was that
woman was created to serve man. This has skewed the view of Lady Liberty, who
was conceived of and created by feminists. Édouard de
Laboulaye, the mastermind behind the statue, was founder of the French
Anti-Slavery Society in 1865 and an abolitionist who felt strongly that slavery
would make the republican form of government unsustainable.
To quote the authors on their reasons for writing The Secret Life of Lady Liberty:
“Considering the Statue of Liberty is used around the world as a symbol to
represent the United States of America, we wondered how we might use these
insights about the female divine to shift the American paradigm … seeing the
Statue of Liberty as America’s goddess could facilitate the transition to the
partnership lessons of the goddess and away from the domination patterns of the
current patriarchy.”
Historic and original
artwork depict the changes in Liberty from the early days of America to the
present. We see illustrations of goddesses from various cultures. Is Liberty based
on pagan iconography? Why, when and how did the female symbol of America change
from Native American to Greco-Roman iconography? When was she no longer seen as
“divine princess” but “demon whore”?
What do the symbols
of Lady Liberty represent? In America’s early days, “Liberty” and “Freedom”
were depicted as a bare-breasted Native American woman. That changed
dramatically. She no longer wears feathers. She is fully clothed. She does not
wear the pileus, the cap linked to freedom of slaves, and as the authors point
out, “…hair and head coverings were causes for much debate and consternation,
with bareheadedness implying a virginal and thus virtuous state, but unbound
and flowing hair indicating unbound freedom, and suggesting looseness of
character. Hair carefully coiffed … indicated a liberty controlled by
law.”
The depiction of
Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty around the world is interesting. Uncle Sam
is often seen as representing the militant and greedy impulses of America,
while Liberty is portrayed as the soul or conscience who advises discretion.
There is so much
fascinating information, and I’d love to incorporate it all in this review, but
The Secret Life of Lady Liberty is a
book you must read for yourself. You’ll be surprised at how much we don’t know about her, and how much we don’t know about our own history.
The Secret Life of Lady Liberty is
not written for history majors. She’s written for anyone interested in the
symbolism of “Liberty” and its evolution in America. Does
“the Lady in the Harbor” have the same meaning today that she did when Auguste
Bertholdi and Édouard de Laboulaye conceived of the project?
As
one online reviewer pointed out, “That the ‘Lady’
is surrounded by water reminds us that ‘this
is the dawning of the age of Aquarius’
and that: ‘peace will rule
the planet and love will steer the stars.’ We can only hope.
-
Laynie Carter
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