Perhaps most impressively, she became a champion for Jewish immigrants fleeing persecution in Russia. "Her talent was no small talent," the curator went on, explaining that Lazarus was none too pleased when Emerson omitted her from his anthology "Parnassus," leading to a rift between them. "She published her first book at 16."īecame her mentor. The National Park Service: Statue of Liberty National Monument The poem was mounted inside the statue in 1903. More importantly, she appears a figure of significant erudition, accomplishment and independence-impressive in any age, but especially for a woman struggling against the stereotypes of mid-19th-century America.Ī representation of the proposed Statue of Liberty from 1875. But she grew up in a well-to-do family, on fashionable Union Square, and bore witness to important moments in American history-among them the draft riots of 1863, which stormed her neighborhood, and the assassination of President Lincoln, his funeral procession passing nearby. Martens noted that people assume that Lazarus was an immigrant herself. History and the evocative force of Lazarus's words basically repurposed it as a symbol of freedom. Indeed, the statue wasn't originally envisioned by its creator,Īs offering a welcome salute to the masses streaming toward our shores, but as a monument to Republicanism and amity between the U.S. It wasn't mounted inside the statue until 1903, her words almost as bright a beacon for the waves of immigrants who came after her death as the torch in the Statue of Liberty's outstretched arm. In fact, the poem, which she penned as her contribution to an effort to raise money to build the Statue of Liberty's base, was largely forgotten until years after she died, in 1887, from Hodgkin's disease, at the age of 38. "The New Colossus" was only a small part of Emma Lazarus's output.
You can dial back to that date-as if in a time machine-or anywhere in between through day and night, the seasons, snow storms, summer lightning, etc.īut I digress. There's also an interactive time-lapse video that has recorded every moment since the saplings were planted.
#Emma lazarus statue of liberty poem series#
Memorial "Garden of Stones." It's a series of boulders from which trees, planted in 2003, are growing strong. One of my favorite touches is the sculptor It accomplishes that not only through its exhibitions but through the museum's architecture, which breathes with light and life.
I'd never been before, but its mission is to be a living memorial to those who perished in the Holocaust. Not only because Emma Lazarus hailed from an accomplished Jewish family but because the Museum of Jewish Heritage has the best view of the Statue of Liberty in Manhattan.
The exhibition couldn't have been mounted in a more fitting location. A manuscript of her poem 'The New Colossus' from 1883.Īmerican Jewish Historical Society, New York, NY and Newton Centre, MA
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