Portrait of Emma Lazarus. USA, 1870
Emma Lazarus, a US-born Jew, was a poet and activist. Words from her sonnet “The New Colossus” are engraved on the Statue of Liberty in New York.
Must Know
A US-born poet, author, and translator who began writing poetry at the age of 11. She helped Jewish immigrants from Russia acclimate to the United States. Inspired by her work with them, she wrote the sonnet The New Colossus, sections of which appear on the Statue of Liberty. Lazarus was a pioneer of American Zionism and advanced the Zionist idea in a number of her writings, including An Epistle to the Hebrews.
