The famous lines from Emma Lazarus’ poem The New Colossus were added to the Statue of Liberty in 1903. President Grover Cleveland presided over the ceremony on October 28, 1886, saying that a “stream of light shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and man’s oppression until Liberty enlightens the world.” There was no mention of immigration. The statue was finally installed a decade later on Bedloe’s Island, an abandoned Army base off the coast of New Jersey. At her feet lay a broken shackle and chains to symbolize the end of slavery.ĭelays in fabrication meant that only the torch was ready for display during the centennial celebrations in 1876. Liberty Enlightening the World depicts the Roman goddess of liberty, libertas, who holds a tablet with July 4, 1776, written in Roman numerals. The metal frame was made by Gustave Eiffel, whose tower at the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris would cement his name into the identity of the city. Bartholdi designed the copper statue and entitled it Liberty Enlightening the World. The idea for the Statue of Liberty originated from a conversation between slavery abolitionist Édouard René de Laboulaye and the sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi in 1865. John Miller of California said on the Senate floor, “Of Chinese, we have enough and would be glad to exchange those we have for any White people under the sun.” In 1882, Congress also passed a separate immigration act that banned “convicts, idiots, lunatics, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge.” In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which banned the entry of all Chinese immigrants. That same year, Congress passed the Page Act, the country’s first national immigration restriction on Chinese laborers and women. The Supreme Court invalidated these state-level immigration laws in 1849 and again in 1875.
Massachusetts and New York implemented limits on poor and sick immigrants, Southern states banned the entry of free Blacks at their ports, and California set limits on the entry of the Chinese after the Gold Rush. The country did not have any federal immigration restrictions until 1875, but many states set up their own limits. immigration policy is one of ever-expanding restrictions and deportations of the poor and huddled masses, from Chinese Exclusion through the rapid removal of over 10,000 Haitians last month.Įven before the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886, the United States had begun to close the door on non-White and poor immigrants.
Similarly, the United States was never a country that allowed completely open immigration, particularly for non-White immigrants. The original purpose of the statue was to commemorate the end of slavery and the country’s centennial. The transformation of the meaning of the Statue of Liberty illustrates how Americans often misremember our history. However, despite the symbolic power of the statue and the sincere belief that the US is a nation of immigrants, neither of these stories we tell ourselves about what it means to be an American is actually true.
Emma Lazarus’ immortal words, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore” are etched into a plaque on its base and into the collective memory of Americans. Lady Liberty’s torch was the first image of America for millions of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island. This op/ed by University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Geography and Environmental Sciences Professor Reece Jones first ran on CNN on October 27, 2021.įor many Americans, the Statue of Liberty, dedicated 135 years ago this month, is an enduring symbol of the idea that the United States is a nation of immigrants.