Emma Lazarus

Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) was an American poet, essayist, and translator born and raised in New York City. From a prominent Jewish family, she published poetry early and moved in literary circles that included Ralph Waldo Emerson. Lazarus wrote on art, literature, and Jewish history, and she supported Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Eastern Europe during the 1880s. She is best known for “The New Colossus” (1883), a sonnet written to help raise funds for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty; its lines later became closely associated with the monument’s meaning. Lazarus died in New York at 38.