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Introduction
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“Give
me your tired, your poor,/ Your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free.” Emma Lazarus'
famous lines caught our national imagination and
continue to inspire the way we think about freedom
and exile today. Written in 1883, her celebrated
poem, "The New Colossus," is engraved on a plaque
in the Statue of Liberty. Over the years, the
sonnet has become a part of American culture,
serving as everything from an Irving Berlin show
tune to a call for immigrants' rights.
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One of the first
successful Jewish American authors, Lazarus was
part of the late nineteenth century New York
literary elite, and was celebrated in her day as an
important American poet. In her later years, she
wrote bold, powerful poetry and essays protesting
the rise of anti-Semitism and arguing for Russian
immigrants' rights. She called on Jews to unite and
create a homeland in Palestine before the title
Zionist had even been coined.
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As a Jewish American woman, Emma Lazarus
faced the challenge of belonging to two often
conflicting worlds. As a woman she dealt with
unequal treatment in both. Lazarus used these
difficult experiences to lend power and depth to
her work. At the same time, her complicated
identity has obscured her place in American
culture.
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Next
—Childhood & Background
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How to Cite This Page
For a bibliography:
Jewish Women's Archive. "JWA - Emma Lazarus - Introduction." <http://jwa.org/exhibits/wov/lazarus/index.html>.
For a footnote:
Jewish Women's Archive, "JWA - Emma Lazarus - Introduction," <http://jwa.org/exhibits/wov/lazarus/index.html>.
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