“Give
me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
– Emma Lazarus
Born
in New York City on this date in 1849, Lazarus wrote
poetry, prose, and translations, as well as political essays and commentary
throughout much of her adulthood. And
while she was a well-known activist during her day, she is perhaps best known
for her 1883 sonnet The New Colossus,
that includes the above lines and is inscribed on a bronze plaque at the base
of the Statue of Liberty.
Her fame grew further when the sonnet was set to music in Irving Berlin’s song "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor" for the 1949 smash hit musical Miss Liberty.
While
Lazarus often wrote on behalf of immigrants and the downtrodden, her own
background was from privilege and deep American roots. Both sides of her family came to America in
the early 1700s. But she gravitated to
“causes” early, already writing well-received poems in her early teens. Ultimately, her poems and essays helped shape
America’s understanding of it immigrant class, with
themes that produced sensitivity and enduring lessons regarding immigrants and
their need for dignity. 
Lazarus died from cancer at age
38. The Poems of Emma Lazarus,
comprising most of her works from both collections and periodical publications,
was published posthumously in 1889. She
was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 2009.
In words that remain prophetic to
this day, Lazarus wrote “Until we are all free, we are none of us free.”
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