Profile of the Day: Emma Lazarus

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled Masses yearning to breathe free”

– Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus”

These are the iconic lines inscribed on a bronze plaque at the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The words were written by American poet Emma Lazarus in 1883 in her sonnet “The New Colossus.”

Image: Emma Lazarus / Library of Congress

The poem was originally written to help raise funds for the construction of the statue’s pedestal, but was forgotten until it was rediscovered after her death. In 1903, the sonnet was inscribed on a plaque and displayed at the pedestal. Her poem referred to the Statue of Liberty as the “Mother of Exiles” and depicted the statue as a symbol of hope and opportunity for the millions of immigrants coming to America.

Lazarus was born July 22, 1849 in New York City, New York to a large Portuguese Sephardic Jewish family. Her great grandmother, Grace Seixas Nathan, was also a poet. Lazarus was well known during her lifetime and published over 50 poems. She died on November 19, 1887 at the age of 38, most likely from Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

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