One of the most iconic historical landmarks in the United States is the Statue of Liberty in New York. It’s a powerful symbol of freedom and is visited by thousands yearly.
Inscribed on the plaque at the pedestal of Lady Liberty is a poem titled “The New Colossus,” which encapsulates the statue’s purpose and has captured the hearts of many. But do you know the story of who wrote this famous poem?
It was Emma Lazarus, a writer, and activist who wrote powerful works and vocally spoke out against anti-semitism in the United States.
Emma was born in New York City in 1849. She was one of seven children born into a wealthy Jewish family. Her father was a successful merchant and highly valued his children’s education, so Emma excelled in learning from her private tutors.
She had great writing skills early on, and by the time she was a teenager, she had written enough poetry to write books of poems, which her father would help her publish and circulate.
Emma was a big fan of writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, who became her mentor after she sent him a book of poems. She eventually wrote another book of poetry, Admetus and Other Poems, and included one dedicated to him, titled “To My Friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson” in 1871.
She received much critical acclaim for her poetry books and, by the 1880s, turned towards writing more about her life as a Jewish woman and her heritage. She started writing about the struggles of Jewish Americans as she grew angrier over the anti-semitism in the United States and the mistreatment of Jewish immigrants in New York City.
Emma became an activist and continued writing about these subjects and speaking out about them in public, making herself seen as a Jewish American poet and working to help refugees through organizations like the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.
She helped establish the Hebrew Technical Institute in New York to help Jewish immigrants find employment and formed the Society for the Improvement and Colonization of East European Jews in 1883.
1883 was the same year she wrote “The New Colossus,” which she was commissioned to write in an effort to raise funds for the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal. She chose to write about the journey of immigrants who come to America, writing, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
After the poem was punished and presented at auction, Emma traveled to Europe to pursue more advocacy work. There, she various Jewish leaders and documented her travels and experience in an essay, “A Day in Surrey with William Morris.”
She stayed in Europe for a few years, but when she returned to New York in 1887, she was very ill due to what some believe to have been Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She passed away at the age of 38 in 1887.
Following Emma’s death, a compilation of her work was published in the series “Poems of Emma Lazarus” in 1889. It wasn’t until 16 years after her passing that “The New Colossus” was engraved onto the plaque that sits on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903.
It’s incredible that although Emma’s life was tragically cut short, she spent many years writing words that are still cherished today and dedicating time to helping those who struggled to be visible.
If you ever find yourself visiting the Statue of Liberty soon, be sure to take a moment to read “The New Colossus” and give thanks to the woman who wrote it.
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