And what she's striving for is an expansive and inclusive idea of immigrants and the way in which America itself would define itself by providing that safety and that opportunity for immigrants. She didn't say a mother of Catholic exiles. She didn't say a mother of European exiles. In the beginning of the poem, she refers to the statue, and she refers to America as a mother of exiles. Based on your understanding, is that true? Cuccinelli there saying that this poem was referring to people coming from Europe. KELLY: About all immigrants, which is interesting because we heard Mr. But she writes this poem about all immigrants. It's interesting because she herself was helping East European Jewish immigrants.

KELLY: So she was specifically writing to an eye with what people arriving in America - what new immigrants would see as they pulled up in their boats.

And according to Constance Cary Harrison, Emma's eyes lit up, and she came back in two days or three days with the poem, 'The New Colossus.' Think of how they'll see the statue in the harbor. And then her friend Constance Cary Harrison said, no, but, you know, Emma, think of these refugees you are helping. She's writing about anti-Semitism in Russia that had prompted a lot of this migration.īut she writes the poem itself in response to a request from a friend who in 1883 approached her and said, will you write a poem to raise money for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty? And at first, Emma said, I don't write on command. And she is teaching them English and she's advocating for them. POLLAND: Well, actually, she - 1881, 1882, she becomes very involved in helping East European Jewish immigrants who have arrived and are in need of help. KELLY: And what prompted her to write this poem in 1883? Do we know? POLLAND: Emma Lazarus was a fifth-generation American Jew who was of Sephardic background, meaning her ancestors had left Spain and Portugal due to expulsion and had travelled and then in the 1700s found a safe place to be in the United States. She's the executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society, which is leading an initiative called the Emma Lazarus Project. KELLY: The poem was written in 1883, which prompted us to wonder, what might Emma Lazarus make of her poem sparking debate now in 2019? Well, let's put that to Annie Polland. Well, Cuccinelli stood his ground last night on CNN.ĬUCCINELLI: Well, of course, that poem was referring back to people coming from Europe where they had class-based societies where people were considered wretched if they weren't in the right class. KELLY: A rewrite to the original poem, which reads give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. KEN CUCCINELLI: Give me your tired and your poor who can stand on their own two feet and who will not become a public charge. Here is Cuccinelli in an interview yesterday on NPR's Morning Edition. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ken Cuccinelli has offered his own version of the famous Emma Lazarus poem on the base of the Statue of Liberty. She died in New York City on November 19, 1887, most likely from Hodgkin's lymphoma and was buried in New York City at Congregation Shearith Israel's Beth Olom Cemetery in Cypress Hills, Queens.In defense of that new public charge rule, Acting U.S.

After the auction, the sonnet appeared in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World as well as The New York Times. In turn, Lazarus, inspired by her own Sephardic Jewish heritage, her experiences working with refugees on Ward's Island, and the plight of the immigrant, wrote 'The New Colossus' on November 2, 1883. In 1883, William Maxwell Evarts and author Constance Cary Harrison asked Lazarus to compose a sonnet for the 'Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty' - an art and literary auction to raise funds for the Statue's pedestal run by the American Committee for the Statue of Liberty. She was deeply moved by the plight of the Russian Jews she met there and these experiences influenced her writing. At Ward's Island, she worked as an aide for Jewish immigrants who had been detained by Castle Garden immigration officials. ' Aside from writing, Lazarus was also involved in charitable work for refugees. National Park Service, Statue of Liberty NMīorn on Jin New York City to a wealthy sugar refining family of Portuguese Sephardic Jewish descent whose roots extended to the very early days of New York City as a British colonial city, Emma Lazarus was the poet who wrote 'The New Colossus.

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