HUMANITIES

1

Carson Thummel

Wendell Smith

HUM100

29 May 2022

Humanities Project: Module Four

The monument I have chosen for this short answer project is the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty is a well-known staple piece in New York. Edouard de Laboulaye is the “Father of the Statue of Liberty. Laboulaye came up with the idea for creating the statue. Many architects help create the statue as well as the creation of the pedestal under the statue. The statues construction began in 1865 and was finished in 1886. The statue was then restored after all those years during the periods of 1982-1986. Laboulaye proposed the idea for the statue as a gift from France. The statue symbolizes the Unions win in the American Civil War and the end of slavery. The creation of the statue was supposed to be a celebration and the ending of oppression with African Americans, but they still had not fully realized the meaning behind the statue.

Before reading about the Statue of Liberty I really didn’t know much about it. But the deep meaning behind its creation and the give-and-take between the US and France is fascinating. I always thought about the statue being a monument the symbolizes “Liberty and Peace for all Americans” and just representing the US as a whole. But the underlying intention was a statue to show Americans that we are all in this together as well as a relationship with France. Not only is the statue a symbol for Americans, but it was also a reassuring symbol to almost 14 million immigrants when they came to New York. After seeing the statue in the distance that was their sign that they have made it to the land of the free.

Works Cited

U.S. Department of the Interior. (2016). History & culture. National Parks Service. Retrieved May 29, 2022, from https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/index.htm