She belonged to a Sephardic Jewish family, and she was outspoken in claiming her Jewish identity. Often referred to as “the Jewess” (in both descriptive and derogatory contexts), Lazarus was the most famous American Jewish writer of her time. But in her own lifetime, she was known for a much wider array of literary production-including translations, fiction, essays, and editorials-and for her American Jewish identity. Now, Lazarus is best remembered for her poem. It was only in 1903-16 years after the poet’s death, in an act of tribute and memorial-that her words were engraved and installed in Lady Liberty’s pedestal. Participants in the Emma Lazarus Project will gain new insight into how she developed and expressed her perspective, exercised activism through her writing, and contributed to a national conversation that remains painfully relevant.Įmma Lazarus composed “The New Colossus” by request, as part of an effort to fundraise for the new Statue of Liberty. With supplementary public programs, lesson plans and educational resources, and a nationwide poetry contest, AJHS is inviting diverse audiences to engage with Lazarus’s ideas in a number of ways. Visitors should feel as though the poet herself has just been in the room-as though her words and ideas are fresh and demand consideration. What books were on her bookcase? What paintings graced her walls? What did “home” mean to a thinker who built such strong concepts of welcome and refuge? The room also features a curated digital storybook that allows visitors to discover relevant images, words, photographs, and sources as they appear with each turn of the virtual page.īeing invited into Lazarus’s home means being invited into the environment where she read, studied, developed her approach, and wrote. In the case of the initiative’s exhibition component, From Sitting Room to Soap Box: Emma Lazarus, Union Square, and American Identity (opening at the Center for Jewish History in winter 2019), this meeting takes place in a re-creation of Lazarus’s own sitting room. Here we meet the American Jewish writer who articulated Lady Liberty’s mission.
#EMMA LAZARUS PROFESSIONAL#
The Emma Lazarus Project of the American Jewish Historical Society-made possible in part by The Covenant Foundation-is a multifaceted initiative that illuminates Lazarus’s personal, political, and professional history.
#EMMA LAZARUS HOW TO#
But even beyond defending history, AJHS is showing us how to learn from Lazarus’s vision-and preparing us to enter a vital American conversation in our own words.Įmma Lazarus' recreated sitting room, part of the Emma Lazarus project exhibition.
But what might our Mother of Exiles say to us in 2019? In recent months, members of the American Jewish community-including Annie Polland, Executive Director of the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS)-have spoken out to ensure that Lazarus’s words are not only remembered, but also interpreted faithfully. In 1883, Lazarus’s Lady Liberty-her torch of flame, of “imprisoned lightning”-faced the world and delivered a strong message of acceptance. Through the poem, Lady Liberty promises a “world-wide welcome” and insists that it is uniquely American to accept “the homeless, the tempest-tost.” The poem’s vision of American inclusion clarifies the power and urgency of welcoming all who seek refuge here. “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” But, even after her passing, she lives on in the beautiful words that she wrote.It is up to us to lend Lady Liberty our words-to translate her silence and the glow of her torch, to witness and articulate her stance “at our sea-washed, sunset gates.” In her 1883 poem “The New Colossus,” Emma Lazarus allows the “Mother of Exiles” to speak to the world: She died two months after her return, on November 19, 1887. It is said that she was likely diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After a two year trip to Europe, she returned to New York City devastatingly ill. Unfortunately, she passed away shortly after the Statue was completed, and never got to personally make the trip to visit and admire the amazing monument she had written so passionately about. She never got to see the Statue of Liberty in person. The last stanza of her sonnet was also set to song by Ellis Island immigrant Irving Berlin, for the 1949 musical Miss Liberty. The lines of her sonnet were later inscribed on a bronze plaque which was placed in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903. The title of the poem comes from the inspiration for the Statue of Liberty- The Colossus of Rhodes. She wrote a sonnet entitled The New Colossus and donated it to an auction in order to hopefully motivate people to donate. In 1883, Emma wanted to contribute her passion to the fundraising for the building of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The poem was written to raise funds for the pedestal.