Emma Lazarus did not have a rags to riches story. She was born in New York City to a wealthy family and educated by private tutors. She was one of the first highly visible Jewish-American authors. From her position of privilege, she championed Zionism and America’s continuing embrace of refugees. She wrote her famous poem “The New Colossus” in 1883 and it was inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903.
The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus
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!”
— Rabbi Ron Stern