America's most famous and iconic landmark, New York's Statue of Liberty, was originally intended to be a Muslim woman.
You read that correctly. The symbol of American "freedom", the statue that welcomed millions of immigrants to the shores of the country, was inspired by a Muslim woman.
The Smithsonian, the U.S. government's preeminent museum and research institution, reminded the world of this fact in November 2015.
Lady Liberty was also originally meant to wear hijab.
Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, the French designer of the statue, was inspired by Egyptian peasant women.
"Taking the form of a veiled peasant woman, the statue was to stand 86 feet high, and its pedestal was to rise to a height of 48 feet," Barry Moreno, the author of several books about the statue, wrote.
Bartholdi intended the statue to stand at Port Said in Egypt, overlooking the Suez Canal. Early drawings of the statue were titled: "Egypt Carrying the Light to Asia."
In the end, Egypt's government wasn't excited about the high price the statue would cost to construct. And Bartholdi had to find another client: the French.
France commissioned two modified statues. The hijab was removed but the robed woman remained.
France gave the now iconic version to the U.S. during its centennial celebrations in 1876. The other one sits along the river in a Paris suburb.
Now, more than 100 years later, this statue still stands as a symbol of America.
The message inscribed on the pedestal of the colossal monument says:
"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!"
Ironically, U.S. President Donald Trump's "Muslim ban" means that Lady Liberty – the Muslim peasant woman – must now turn away Muslim immigrants and refugees.