Looking back 50 years ago when the United States was celebrating its 200th birthday, the Sentinel Star was full of patriotic-related stories.
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That includes a front-page story on July 3 written by then-staff reporter Jane Healy about a new U.S. citizen named Mrs. Liberty.
Here is the story that ran with the headline, “Mrs. Liberty Becomes One Of ‘US’ For 200th.”
America became one Liberty richer Friday. Orlando resident Fatemeh Liberty was granted her U.S. citizenship.
Along with 100 other persons, she recited her first pledge of allegiance as an American citizen. Tightly clutching a miniature American flag in one hand and naturalization information in the other, the 31-year-old Iranian-born woman said it was only coincidence her naturalization coincided with another liberty celebration this weekend.
She filed for citizenship last August and expected to become a citizen in a few months.
But it was not until Friday that she entered the federal courtroom in Orlando and swore her allegiance to the United States. Dressed in an off-white dress accented with a red, white and blue scarf around her neck. Mrs. Liberty said her name was not Liberty when she applied for citizenship. It became that when she married Joseph D. Liberty in September.
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Her first priority as a citizen will be to go to to the Orange County elections office to register to vote.
“The best thing is that I’m going to be able to vote,” she said, adding she has not made up her mind who she favors in this year’s presidential race. But her decision to become an American citizen involved more than that.
As a young girl in Tehran, Iran, she dreamed of becoming a U.S. citizen. In 1966 she moved to this country with her first husband, an American Air Force member. “I just know I belong here. I’m not visiting any more. This is my country. I don’t want to be a foreigner any more,” Mrs. Liberty said.
She said she realized two years ago that America was her country, and not Iran. She said she has no regrets about giving up that country’s citizenship.
“The United States is the greatest nation in the world as far as I’m concerned,” she said. “I’ll have the freedom I didn’t have in Iran.”
More stories and features from the Orlando Sentinel’s 150 years of covering Central Florida can be found at OrlandoSentinel.com/150. Sign up for our free history newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/newsletters. Buy a copy of the Orlando Sentinel’s 150th anniversary book with 150 front pages from our 150 years. Get it OrlandoSentinel.com/150yearsbook and see more anniversary merchandise at OrlandoSentinel.com/150yearsmerch
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