Post #3592323

2026-07-04 21:23 UTC

This July 4th reminds me that I only learned a few years ago that the Statue of Liberty is an anti-slavery monument created by a French abolitionist back in 1865 to celebrate emancipation, so I tell my little cousins about the broken chains at her feet any chance I get. https://www.nps.gov/stli/learn/historyculture/abolition.htm

Replies (4)

@levieva@infosec.exchange 2026-07-04 23:17

@mathowie@xoxo.zone God, grant me the confidence and enthusiasm of people who discover the school history curriculum in their forties and immediately rush to make content out of it. 🙃

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@ahimsa_pdx@disabled.social 2026-07-04 22:56

@mathowie@xoxo.zone I learned this years ago but I'm happy to boost a post about it any time I see one! I hope more folks learn about it. An early version of statue was going to be holding chains but that was changed to have her holding a tablet.

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@schwinghamer@mstdn.social 2026-07-04 23:08

@mathowie@xoxo.zone this imagery also recalls Liber that is a name for Dionysos in Greece. When Dionysos is nearby, the locks of prison doors fail, and the manacles and chains fall off of the imprisoned ones. Dionysos was pictured as having the face of a woman.

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@clickhere@mastodon.ie 2026-07-04 23:18

@mathowie@xoxo.zone Wow. I never knew this! Thank you.

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