Emma Lazarus
Emma Lazarus was born into a prominent fourth generation Jewish family, one of the oldest in New York City, on July 22, 1849. Her father recognized Emma’s talent for writing at an early age and encouraged her work. In 1866, when Emma was seventeen, he privately published her first book, Poems and Translations Written Between the Ages of Fourteen and Seventeen.
Emma Lazarus would not live long enough to experience the full impact of her poem. She died in 1887 and it was not until 1903 that a bronze plaque containing the words to her sonnet was mounted at the base of the Statue of Liberty. Emma Lazarus’ famous lines caught the nation’s imagination and continues to inspire the way people think about freedom and exile today.
Courtesy hmdb.org
