Emma Lazarus (1849–1887)

Emma Lazarus, a New York poet of Sephardic descent, published Songs of a Semite (1882) and threw herself into advocacy for the East-European refugees arriving in her city. Commissioned for the Statue of Liberty pedestal fundraiser, she wrote "The New Colossus" (1883); since 1903 its lines — "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" — have been fixed to the statue itself, turning a Jewish poet’s refugee welcome into an American creed. ◈ Poetry Foundation