Why the Statue of Liberty Sculptor Placed A Chain at Its Feet Instead of in the Left Hand

One of America’s most iconic landmarks includes an homage to slavery, and the little known
fact is raising eyebrows as Black Americans observe the Juneteenth and the Fourth of July
holidays.

The Statue of Liberty has stood on Liberty Island in New York Harbor as a “symbol of
enlightenment … lighting the way to freedom and down the path of liberty” for 139 years. But few Americans are aware that a chain rests at the feet, and the original drawings reportedly
placed them in the left hand of the statue.

When Frenchman Edouard de Laboulaye – an abolitionist – proposed presenting the statue to
the United States as a gift from the people of France, sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi
agreed with Laboulaye’s goodwill gesture and began to conceptualize the idea for the
monument. Both men wanted to recognize the end of slavery, and Bartholdi had intended to
place a chain in the statue’s left hand to represent the end of slavery and oppression.

Instead, he placed them at her feet to symbolize liberty breaking free from bondage.

During a recent interview, Dr. Joy DeGruy – an internationally known researcher and educator –
stunned many African Americans with the background about the original drawings which
triggered her reluctance to visit Liberty Island when a friend, who managed New York’s
landmarks for the Interior Department, invited her.

DeGruy said, “When I go there, I’m going there with the knowledge that the Statue of Liberty
was holding originally in her left hand broken chains – commissioned in 1865, a pretty important
date – end of slavery, end of the Civil War, all of the things were why she was the Statue of
Liberty.”

DeGruy recalled that she and her friend went “into the basement of the Statue of Liberty, and
we find the document encased in glass behind figurines facing a wall in the hallway.”
Batholdi, the sculptor, had apparently encountered resistance to his idea of placing the chains in
the left hand, which would have been a more visible display, but he insisted that the chains
remain a part of the statue.

“The agreement was, ‘We will keep the chains, but we’ll make it so no one can see them,’”
DeGruy explained.

According to The Statue of Liberty website, “To symbolize the end of slavery, Bartholdi placed a
broken shackle and chains at the Statue’s foot.”

After DeGruy’s discovery and frustration that the chains were not mentioned during tours, she
began to tell the story of the chain at the feet of the Statue of Liberty. Eventually, she said she
received a call from the Interior Department’s staff, and they apologized, adding, “We have been
negligent.”

Now, when tourists visit the Statue of Liberty, the park rangers include information about the
chain and their significance.