This website provides a way to understand the Statue of Liberty through the lens of human and civil rights, primarily centered on Black American cultural perceptions of the statue and civil rights activities by Black activists over time at the statue itself. It is important to understand and recognize what this symbol means historically, today, and may mean in the future. The Statue of Liberty has always been charged with meaning. Courtesy of its grandiose scale, dramatic subject, and ambiguous symbolism, the Statue of Liberty commands attention; over time, though, people have attended to it in different ways. Or, rather, the meaning of the Statue changes over time and across circumstances. At some point, the statue became a symbol of national unity over abolition. For many groups, the statue then became a touchstone for asserting human and civil rights and to address social inequities. For many politicians, it is used as a symbol for different interpretations of freedom and American identity. And, it has even been a prop for magicians to make it disappear. Many uses of the statue as an icon exist along the margins of society as well to represent the ironies and promises that invest the statue with more revolutionary potentials.
