The Statue represents the liberty of this Country and it's friendship with France, not immigrants.
And no, it was not
on a statue we installed, and no "we" did not put it there.
The sonnet was donated to raise money for the statue's base.
A friend later donated the bronze plaque and dedicated it to the loving memory of Emma Lazarus.
It had not a damn thing to do with what the Statue stands for and is not our credo and has no relevance to our immigration law or policy.
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The poem was chosen to appear in the “Catalogue of the Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition at the National Academy of Design” that accompanied the auction and later was published in both the New York World and the New York Times. Yet when the Statute of Liberty was finally dedicated in 1886, “The New Colossus” did not appear at the site.
Only in 1901, 17 years after the death of Emma Lazarus, did a friend of hers, Georgina Schuyler, come upon the poem in a bookshop and proposed that it be integrated into the exhibition at Bedloe’s Island (today, Liberty Island). Two years later, a plate engraved with the poem was installed inside the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal, where it is still on display today.
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For the Statue of liberty? No.
Donated to raise money so a base for the statue could be built.
The statue was not even up yet. She wrote of what such a statue would represent to her.
Who do you think the "exiles" to her were in the “Mother of Exiles”? Huh?
Who the do you think the tired poor huddled masses yearning to breath free were? Some indiscriminate group of people? Or the ones she knew about and had just returned from seeing?
The immortal words were penned by young Emma Lazarus, soon after her return from a European trip where she had seen the persecution of Jews and others first hand:
The Jewish-American Hall of Fame
After demurring, she was encouraged to write about those persecuted Russian Jews she was familiar with.
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Writer Constance Cary Harrison also had to conjure an image of Lady Liberty to persuade Emma Lazarus to contribute. When first approached, Lazarus demurred. She didn’t write “to order” and made fun of her “portfolio fiend” friend. But Harrison had read Lazarus’s articles about the plight of Russian Jews abroad and knew of her volunteer work at the hospital on Ward’s Island:
“Think of that Goddess standing on her pedestal down yonder in the bay, and holding her torch out to those Russian refugees of yours you are so fond of visiting at Ward’s Island.” The shaft sped home—her dark eyes deepened—her cheek flushed—the time for merriment had passed—she said not a word more, then.
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The Official Blog of Library of America
Wrong as usual you are.
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Though raised in privilege, Lazarus had spent her life writing about anti-Semitism and ethnic prejudice, and in the 1880s became a fierce advocate for Jewish refugees fleeing massacre in Russia. The sonnet, called “The New Colossus,” reflected that conviction.
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But the entire poem is much longer, and according to historians, speaks to the work Lazarus did to be a spokeswoman for the Jewish community and welcome Russian refugees in the 1880s.
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