Emma Lazarus - wikipedia Emma Lazarus Emma Lazarus Emma Lazarus, c. 1872 ( 1849 - 07 - 22 ) July 22, 1849 New York City, U.S. November 19, 1887 ( 1887 - 11 - 19 ) ( aged 38 ) New York City, U.S. Resting place Beth - Olom Cemetery in Brooklyn Citizenship United States of America Genre Poetry Notable works `` The New Colossus '' Signature Emma Lazarus ( July 22, 1849 -- November 19, 1887 ) was an American poet and Georgist from New York City. She is best known for `` The New Colossus '', a sonnet written in 1883 ; its lines appear inscribed on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty installed in 1903, a decade and a half after Lazarus 's death,. The last stanza of the sonnet was set to music by Irving Berlin as the song `` Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor '' for the 1949 musical Miss Liberty, which was based on the sculpting of the Statue of Liberty. Contents 1 Background 2 Works 3 References 4 Further reading 5 External links Background Lazarus was born into a large Sephardic Jewish family, the fourth of seven children of Moses Lazarus and Esther Nathan. One of her great - grandfathers on the Lazarus side was from Germany ; the rest of her Lazarus and Nathan ancestors were originally from Portugal and resident in New York long before the American Revolution. Lazarus 's great - great grandmother on her mother 's side, Grace Seixas Nathan ( born in New York in 1752 ) was also a poet. Lazarus was also related through her mother to Benjamin N. Cardozo, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. From an early age, she studied American and British literature, as well as several languages, including German, French, and Italian. Her writings attracted the attention of Ralph Waldo Emerson. She was a friend and admirer of the American political economist Henry George. She believed deeply in Georgist economic reforms and became active in the ' single tax ' movement for land value tax. She published a poem in the New York Times named after George 's most famous book, Progress and Poverty. Lazarus wrote her own important poems and edited many adaptations of German poems, notably those of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Heinrich Heine. She also wrote a novel and two plays in five acts, The Spagnoletto, a tragic verse drama about the titular figure and The Dance to Death, a dramatization of a German short story about the burning of Jews in Nordhausen during the Black Death. `` The New Colossus '' Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land ; Here at our sea - washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon - hand Glows world - wide welcome ; her mild eyes command The air - bridged harbor that twin cities frame. `` Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp ! '' cries she With silent lips. `` 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 - tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door ! '' Emma Lazarus, 1883 Lazarus became more interested in her Jewish ancestry after reading the George Eliot novel Daniel Deronda, and as she heard of the Russian pogroms that followed the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. As a result of this anti-Semitic violence, thousands of destitute Ashkenazi Jews emigrated from the Russian Pale of Settlement to New York, leading Lazarus to write articles on the subject, as well as the book Songs of a Semite ( 1882 ). Lazarus began at this point to advocate on behalf of indigent Jewish refugees. She helped establish the Hebrew Technical Institute in New York to provide vocational training to assist destitute Jewish immigrants to become self - supporting. She is best known for the sonnet `` The New Colossus '' ; its lines appear on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty placed in 1903. The sonnet was written in 1883 and donated to an auction, conducted by the `` Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty '' in order to raise funds to build the pedestal. Lazarus ' close friend Rose Hawthorne Lathrop was inspired by `` The New Colossus '' to found the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne. Lazarus is also known for her sixteen - part cycle poem `` Epochs ''. She traveled twice to Europe, first in 1883 and again from 1885 to 1887. On one of those trips, Georgiana Burne - Jones, the wife of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne - Jones, introduced her to William Morris at her home. She returned to New York City seriously ill after her second trip and died two months later on November 19, 1887, most likely from Hodgkin 's lymphoma. She is an important forerunner of the Zionist movement. She argued for the creation of a Jewish homeland thirteen years before Theodor Herzl began to use the term Zionism. Lazarus is buried in Beth - Olom Cemetery in Brooklyn. Emma Lazarus was honored by the Office of the Manhattan Borough President in March, 2008, and her home on West 10th Street was included in a map of Women 's Rights Historic Sites. In 2009, she was honored by induction into the National Women 's Hall of Fame and in 1992 was named as a Women 's History Month Honoree by the National Women 's History Project. The Museum of Jewish Heritage featured an exhibition about Emma Lazarus in 2012. Works Lazarus, Emma ( 1888 ). The Poems of Emma Lazarus. Houghton, Mifflin and Company. Retrieved 2008 - 12 - 12. `` In the Jewish Synagogue at Newport '' `` In Exile '' `` Progress and Poverty '' `` The New Colossus '' `` By the Waters of Babylon '' `` 1492 '' `` The New Year '' `` The South '' `` Venus of the Louvre '' References ^ Jump up to : Watts, Emily Stipes. The Poetry of American Women from 1632 to 1945. Austin : University of Texas Press, 1977 : 123. ISBN 0 - 292 - 76450 - 2 ^ Jump up to : Young, Bette Roth ( 1997 ). Emma Lazarus in Her World : Life and Letters. The Jewish Publication Society. ISBN 0 - 8276 - 0618 - 4. p. 3 : Jump up ^ `` Jewish Women 's Archive : Emma Lazarus ''. Retrieved 2008 - 01 - 10. Jump up ^ `` Four Founders : Emma Lazarus ''. Jewish Virtual Library. Jump up ^ Schor, Esther. Emma Lazarus. Schocken, 2008. Jump up ^ `` Progress and Poverty ''. The New York Times. Jewish Women 's Archive. 2 October 1881. p. 3. Retrieved 21 May 2013. Jump up ^ The Poems of Emma Lazarus in Two Volumes, kindle ebooks ASIN B0082RVVJ2 & ASIN B0082RDHSA Jump up ^ Sugarman, Yerra ( 2003 ). `` Emma Lazarus ''. In Parini, Jay. The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Oxford University Press. p. 413. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 515653 - 9. Jump up ^ Young, Bette Roth ( 1997 ). Emma Lazarus in Her World : Life and Letters. The Jewish Publication Society. ISBN 0 - 8276 - 0618 - 4. p. 3 : Auction event named as `` Lowell says poem gave the statue `` a raison e'tre ; '' fell into obscurity ; not mentioned at statue opening ; Georgina Schuyler 's campaign for the plaque Jump up ^ Felder, Deborah G. ; Diana L Rosen ( 2003 ). Fifty Jewish Women Who Changed the World. Citadel Press. ISBN 0 - 8065 - 2443 - X. p. 45 : Solicited by `` William Maxwell Evert '' ( sic ; presumably William Maxwell Evarts ) Lazarus refused initially ; convinced by Constance Cary Harrison Jump up ^ `` Exhibit highlights connection between Jewish poet, Catholic nun ''. The Tidings. Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Catholic News Service. 17 September 2010. p. 16. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2010. Jump up ^ Obituary in Century Magazine The Poems of Emma Lazarus in Two Volumes, kindle ebooks ASIN B0082RVVJ2 & ASIN B0082RDHSA Jump up ^ Esther Schor, Emma Lazarus ( 2006 ) Jump up ^ Judith Flanders, A Circle of Sisters ( 2001 ) page 186. Jump up ^ Simon, Briana. `` Zion in the Sources : Yearning for Zion ''. World Zionist Organization. Jump up ^ `` Manhattan Borough President - Home ''. Archived from the original on 2011 - 07 - 18. Jump up ^ `` Lazarus, Emma ''. National Women 's Hall of Fame. Retrieved 1 November 2016. Jump up ^ `` Past Women 's History Month Honorees ''. National Women 's History Project. Retrieved 3 August 2017. Further reading Cavitch, Max. `` Emma Lazarus and the Golem of Liberty, '' American Literary History 18.1 ( 2006 ), 1 -- 28 Eiselein, Gregory. Emma Lazarus : Selected Poems and Other Writings. Broadview Press, 2002. ISBN 1 - 55111 - 285 - X. Jacob, H.E. The World of Emma Lazarus. Schocken, 1949 ; New York : Kessing Publishers, 2007, ISBN 1 - 4325 - 1416 - 4. Lazarus, Emma. Emma Lazarus : Selected Poems. Library of America, 2005. ISBN 1 - 931082 - 77 - 4. Moore, H.S. Liberty 's Poet : Emma Lazarus. TurnKey Press, 2004. ISBN 0 - 9754803 - 4 - 0. Schor, Esther. Emma Lazurus. Schocken, 2006. ISBN 0 - 8052 - 4216 - 3. Randomhouse.com Young, B.R. Emma Lazarus in Her World : Life and Letters. Jewish Publication Society of America, 1997. ISBN 0 - 8276 - 0618 - 4. Vogel, Dan ( 1980 ). Emma Lazarus. Boston : Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0805772332. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Gilman, D.C. ; Peck, H.T. ; Colby, F.M., eds. ( 1905 ). `` Lazarus, Emma ''. New International Encyclopedia ( 1st ed. ). New York : Dodd, Mead. External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Emma Lazarus. Wikiquote has quotations related to : Emma Lazarus Wikisource has original works written by or about : Emma Lazarus Jewish Virtual Library : Emma Lazarus Jewish Women 's Archive : HISTORY MAKERS : Emma Lazarus, 1849 -- 1887 National Public Radio : Emma Lazarus, Poet of the Huddled Masses Works by Emma Lazarus at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Emma Lazarus at Internet Archive Works by Emma Lazarus at LibriVox ( public domain audiobooks ) Jewish - American Hall of Fame : Virtual Tour : Emma Lazarus ( 1849 -- 1887 ) Dr. David P. Stern : Welcome to my World : Emma Lazarus at the Wayback Machine ( archived June 16, 2006 ) Papers of Emma Lazarus at the American Jewish Historical Society Inductees to the National Women 's Hall of Fame 1970 -- 1979 1973 Jane Addams Marian Anderson Susan B. Anthony Clara Barton Mary McLeod Bethune Elizabeth Blackwell Pearl S. Buck Rachel Carson Mary Cassatt Emily Dickinson Amelia Earhart Alice Hamilton Helen Hayes Helen Keller Eleanor Roosevelt Florence Sabin Margaret Chase Smith Elizabeth Cady Stanton Helen Brooke Taussig Harriet Tubman 1976 Abigail Adams Margaret Mead Mildred `` Babe '' Didrikson Zaharias 1979 Dorothea Dix Juliette Gordon Low Alice Paul Elizabeth Bayley Seton 1980 -- 1989 1981 Margaret Sanger Sojourner Truth 1982 Carrie Chapman Catt Frances Perkins Belva Lockwood Lucretia Mott 1984 Mary `` Mother '' Harris Jones Bessie Smith 1986 Barbara McClintock Lucy Stone Harriet Beecher Stowe Gwendolyn Brooks Willa Cather Sally Ride Ida B. Wells - Barnett 1990 -- 1999 Margaret Bourke - White Barbara Jordan Billie Jean King Florence B. 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Hicks Barbara Holdridge Harriet Williams Russell Strong Emily Howell Warner Victoria Woodhull 2002 Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis Ruth Bader Ginsburg Katharine Graham Bertha Holt Mary Engle Pennington Mercy Otis Warren 2003 Linda G. Alvarado Donna de Varona Gertrude Ederle Martha Matilda Harper Patricia Roberts Harris Stephanie L. Kwolek Dorothea Lange Mildred Robbins Leet Patsy Takemoto Mink Sacagawea Anne Sullivan Sheila E. Widnall 2005 Florence Ellinwood Allen Ruth Fulton Benedict Betty Bumpers Hillary Clinton Rita Rossi Colwell Mother Marianne Cope Maya Y. Lin Patricia A. Locke Blanche Stuart Scott Mary Burnett Talbert 2007 Eleanor K. Baum Julia Child Martha Coffin Pelham Wright Swanee Hunt Winona LaDuke Elisabeth Kübler - Ross Judith L. Pipher Catherine Filene Shouse Henrietta Szold 2009 Louise Bourgeois Mildred Cohn Karen DeCrow Susan Kelly - Dreiss Allie B. Latimer Emma Lazarus Ruth Patrick Rebecca Talbot Perkins Susan Solomon Kate Stoneman 2010 -- 2019 2011 St. Katharine Drexel Dorothy Harrison Eustis Loretta C. Ford Abby Kelley Foster Helen Murray Free Billie Holiday Coretta Scott King Lilly Ledbetter Barbara A. Mikulski Donna E. Shalala Kathrine Switzer 2013 Betty Ford Ina May Gaskin Julie Krone Kate Millett Nancy Pelosi Mary Joseph Rogers Bernice Sandler Anna Schwartz Emma Willard 2015 Tenley Albright Nancy Brinker Martha Graham Marcia Greenberger Barbara Iglewski Jean Kilbourne Carlotta Walls LaNier Philippa Marrack Mary Harriman Rumsey Eleanor Smeal 2017 Matilda Cuomo Temple Grandin Lorraine Hansberry Victoria Jackson Sherry Lansing Claire Booth Luce Aimee Mullins Carol Mutter Janet Rowley Alice Waters VIAF : 51916813 LCCN : n79086283 ISNI : 0000 0000 8130 8074 GND : 118779052 SUDOC : 088367096 BNF : cb144799026 ( data ) IATH : w6bz66qr Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emma_Lazarus&oldid=804563061 '' Categories : 1887 deaths 1849 births Georgists 19th - century American poets American feminist writers Jewish American writers Jewish women writers Jewish American poets American Sephardic Jews Sephardi Jews Spanish and Portuguese Jews Jewish feminists American Zionists American people of German - Jewish descent American people of Portuguese - Jewish descent People from New York City Statue of Liberty American women poets 19th - century American women writers 19th - century American writers Hidden categories : Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the New International Encyclopedia Wikipedia articles incorporating text via vb from the New International Encyclopedia Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the New International Encyclopedia Articles with Project Gutenberg links Articles with Internet Archive links Articles with LibriVox links Webarchive template wayback links Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with SNAC - ID identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Wikisource تۆرکجه Català Čeština Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto فارسی Français Հայերեն Italiano עברית Latina Magyar Nederlands Norsk ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Polski Português Русский Simple English Suomi Svenska Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 9 October 2017, at 20 : 29. 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Question: when was the writing put on the statue of liberty
Answer: 1903