"The New Colossus"

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Date

1883

Description

"The New Colossus," is a sonnet written by poet and activist, Emma Lazarus, about the Statue of Liberty and America's role as a refuge for the poor and persecuted of the world. This was an issue of particular interest to Lazarus who was inspired by her Jewish heritage to provide aid to the victims of the 1881-1882 pogroms in the Russian Empire, who were fleeing en masse to America during this period. In 1903, this poem was cast onto a bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

Type

Written Document

Region

New York City

Era

Industrialization, Turn of the Century and WWI

Topic

Architecture, Immigration, Jewish History

Repository

American Jewish Historical Society

Source

Page 1 of "Manuscript notebook from the Emma Lazarus collection, 1877-1887" by Emma Lazarus. Accessed at Center for Jewish History: https://digipres.cjh.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE1072380

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