Secret Life of Lady Liberty: Goddess in the New World

Uncovering the forgotten lineage of the Statue of Liberty, Bob Hieronimus and Laura Cortner explain how she is based on a female symbol representing America on the earliest maps of the continent in the form of a Native American "Queen." The image of a woman symbolizing independence was embraced by the American revolutionaries to rally the populace against the King, filling the role of "Founding Mother" and protector of the fledgling republic. Incorporating Libertas, the Roman goddess of freed slaves, with Minerva, Demeter, Justice, and the Indian Princess, Lady Liberty is seen all over the nation's capital, and on the seals and flags of many states.