On a recent episode of the Vault Empowers Talks podcast, acclaimed scholar and author Dr. Joy DeGruy dropped a powerful truth bomb about one of America’s most iconic landmarks: the Statue of Liberty.
While most Americans associate Lady Liberty with immigration, DeGruy reminds the world that the statue’s original intent was to honor the abolition of slavery in the United States.
“She was standing on those shackles,” Dr. DeGruy disclosed. “You erased the chains, you erased me.”
According to DeGruy, who holds a Ph.D. in social work and is known internationally for her groundbreaking work on post-traumatic slave syndrome, the statue’s creator—French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi—was an abolitionist who insisted the statue include broken chains to symbolize the end of slavery.
Those chains, however, were deliberately obscured from public view for over a century!
The Hidden History
Commissioned in 1865—the same year slavery was abolished and the Civil War ended—the Statue of Liberty was originally intended as a symbol of freedom from bondage. While most visitors recognize the torch in her right hand and the tablet in her left, few know about the broken shackles beneath her feet.
Dr. DeGruy explained that on her first visit to the statue, she came armed with historical knowledge that many rangers did not even acknowledge.
“I knew that she was holding broken chains in her left hand originally,” she said, citing original drawings she had seen during a visit to France.
But when she asked about the chains during her tour, she was met with silence—until she found the evidence hidden in the basement: a historical document showing Lady Liberty with the chains, displayed behind figurines and facing a wall.
“It was truth hidden in plain sight,” said DeGruy.
A Battle for Truth
Determined to illuminate this overlooked truth, Dr. DeGruy offered to pay for a proper display of the broken chains or to have a Black sculptor create a replica. When initially rebuffed, she vowed to “tell the world,” and she did—using her platform as a global lecturer to expose what had been hidden.
Her efforts paid off. DeGruy later received a call from the U.S. Department of the Interior apologizing for the oversight and asking her to train National Park Service rangers. By 2019, a new museum on Liberty Island officially acknowledged the statue’s roots in emancipation. A Washington Post article that year boldly declared: “The Statue of Liberty was designed to celebrate freed slaves—not immigrants.”
A Symbol Reclaimed
For Black Americans, Dr. DeGruy says this revelation changes everything.
“Every Black child deserves to know: Lady Liberty stood for their ancestors’ fight for freedom,” she shared on the podcast.
“If you knew that your ancestors didn’t come through Ellis Island but came chained in the belly of ships—and that she [the Statue of Liberty] was standing on those shackles—how much prouder would you be?”
Dr. DeGruy’s message is clear: America must confront and tell the full story of its symbols.
“Once you show the chains, you’ve got to explain,” she said. “And every Black man, woman, and child can finally say, ‘Oh no, that’s mine. That’s mine.’”
A Call for Education
As part of her continued advocacy, Dr. DeGruy calls for the broken shackles to be made visible and explained at every Statue of Liberty tour.
“That’s American history,” said a white park ranger to DeGruy after her training. “It’s your history and it’s my history.”
Through her efforts, the truth of Lady Liberty’s message may finally be seen—not just by the eyes of those who look up at her torch, but by the hearts of those who remember the chains she still stands on.
