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Emma Lazarus (1849–1887) was a Jewish American poet and translator. Born in New York City, she was the fourth of seven children in a wealthy Jewish family. Her privileged upbringing afforded Lazarus a private education in European languages and literatures, which inspired her to write poetry from an early age. Her first collection of work, simply titled Poems and Translations, appeared in 1867. Much of this early writing focused on adapting and translating from the German-language poems of Goethe and Heine, and it earned her praise from critics at home and abroad. In addition to her pursuits as a writer, Lazarus was also a dedicated activist. Her early activism related to an economic reform movement known as Georgism. Later, in the 1880s, she developed an interest in her Jewish heritage and became increasingly involved in aiding Jewish political refugees fleeing the pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. Her most famous poem, “The New Colossus,” dates from this period, and it powerfully captures her belief in the need to welcome immigrants cast aside by the lands of their birth. Written to aid the fundraising effort for the Statue of Liberty, the poem is now permanently linked to this symbol of American promise.

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