Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor

This is a dark time in the history of our country, but it helps to be reminded of the many other dark times we have overcome and the heroes and heroines who paved the way. I think the story of Emma Lazarus is cogent now. It also highlights the foundations of our country as built by immigrants. There is much more to her life and I suggest the biography by Esther Schor. Great research, well written and an insightful analysis of Emmas life and work. 

Emma Lazarus was born in New York City on July 22, 1849. She was the fourth of seven children. Her father, Moses, was a successful sugar refiner and merchant. Her mother, Esther, was a descendent of a well respected German-Jewish family that made their home in New York. Hers was a powerful family with deep roots. Her ancestors were originally from Portugal and were among the first twenty-three Portuguese Jews who arrived in New Amsterdam after they fled the inquisition in Brazil. 

Emma’s parents believed in education for all their children. From an early age, they received tutoring, and she studied American and British literature and spoke several languages, including German, French, and Italian. As a young girl, poetry attracted Emma, possibly because of her great-great-grandmother, Grace Seixas Nathan, a well-known poet born in Stratford, Connecticut, in 1752. Emma wrote her first poetic works when she was eleven years old. 

Emma excelled in academics and by the age of seventeen, she had written a book of poems called Poems and Translations: Written between the Ages of Fourteen and Sixteen. Her father was a wholehearted supporter of her writing and published her book of poems for “private circulation.” 

Emma sent a copy of that book to Ralph Waldo Emerson, who quickly became her mentor. She published her next book of poetry in 1871 and it was dedicated “To My Friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson.” 

Emma continued to write and publish, often achieving high acclaim. She used her poems as a vehicle to speak out against the persecution of Jews and Europe and the growing anti-Semitism in the United States. She publicly and with great pride, acknowledged her Jewish heritage. In addition to her writing, she also met with immigrants and refugees, volunteered at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and helped establish the Hebrew Technical Institute in New York to provide Jewish immigrants with vocational training. 

In 1883, Emma wrote “The New Colossus” that was presented at auction to raise money for the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. Sixteen years after Emma’s death, her words were engraved on a plaque on that pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. “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-tossed to me, / I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” are a powerful expression of welcome and opportunity for immigrants.