Was the original statue of liberty a black woman?

[TheSicilianSage]

Bartholdi's original design called for a male "Colossus", but he chose instead to represent "Liberty" as a classic female European "Victory" (not with a sword, but with a torch) so as to represent everything "opposite" of European ideals.

Emma Lazareth's poem tells it all:
.. note how it captures everything negative
about Europe and everything positive about America.

"The Modern Colossus"

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"