1849—1887

Emma Lazarus was an American poet born in New York City. She is best known for “The New Colossus”, a sonnet written in 1883 and donated to an auction conducted to raise funds to build the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. They are inscribed on its bronze plaque, installed in 1903, a decade and a half after Lazarus’s death.

The New Colossus

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!”
Emma Lazarus, 1883

The “Emma Lazarus Project” is born out of a need to remind ourselves that we are a country whose identity is shaped by the revolutionary idea that all are welcome here to seek refuge and a chance to build a better life.

In that spirit we hope to educate and persuade our representatives on the need to keep the golden door open, to welcome those fleeing hardship, tyranny and oppression.