Today, on July 22nd, the Foundation celebrates the birthday of late American poet, Emma Lazarus, and honors the legacy she left behind.
Lazarus (1849-1887) was born in New York City to a Sephardic Jewish family of Portuguese descent. Her father, a successful sugar merchant, valued education and from a young age, Lazarus studied multiple languages and became well-read in German and French literature.
Her first poetry book, written between the ages of 14 and 16, was privately published by her father in 1866. Her second work, Poems and Translations, was published commercially the following year. From her early work she received critical acclaim and caught the attention of famous writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, who would later become a mentor and friend.
Alongside her writing, Lazarus was also a passionate advocate for refugees, international Jewish issues and various kinds of social reform. She often wrote prose and poetry inspired by her advocacy. In 1883, the American Committee for the Statue of Liberty asked Lazarus to write a piece to be presented at a fundraiser for the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal construction. Inspired by the spirit of Lady Liberty, Lazarus’ most well-known work, The New Colossus, was born.
The sonnet personifies the Statue of Liberty as the “Mother of Exiles,” and as a symbol of hope and new beginnings. Speaking through the voice of Lady Liberty herself, Lazarus characterizes the United States of America as a welcoming place for migrants from all over the world.
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!”
–The New Colossus
Emma Lazarus died in New York City on November 19, 1887, at the age of 38, only four years after writing those iconic words. She was buried in New York City at Congregation Shearith Israel’s Beth Olom Cemetery in Cypress Hills, Queens.
Destined to never be forgotten, in 1903, the words of Lazarus’ The New Colossus were engraved on a bronze plaque and mounted on an inner wall of the Statue’s pedestal base. The plaque remains today, and an exact replica can be found inside the Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island.