Emma Lazarus(1849-1887)

Poet Emma Lazarus was born into a wealthy family in New York City on July 22, 1849. Her first book of poems, "Poems and Translations", was published in 1867, when she was just 18. Renowned author Ralph Waldo Emerson was impressed with her work and praised it, and her next book, "Admetus and Other Poems" in 1871, was dedicated to him. She published a string of well-received poems and verse works over the next few years.

In 1881 she became involved in the plight of the new waves of immigrants to the US, and became a strong advocate of the rights of immigrants, an unpopular stance during a time when many immigrant groups--especially those of Eastern Europe and Ireland--were under attack by anti-immigrant groups in the US, who said they were "polluting" US culture. Her most famous work, "The New Colossus", was chosen to be the inscription on the base of the Statue of Liberty, welcoming immigrants coming into New York harbor. It contains what are among the most well-known words in the English language: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free".

She published her last book in 1887, and died in New York City on November 19 that year.