Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 – November 19, 1887) was an American
poet born in New York City. She is best known for writing "The
New Colossus", a sonnet written in 1883, that is now engraved on
a bronze plaque on a wall in the base of the Statue of Liberty.
The sonnet was solicited by William Maxwell Evarts as a donation
to an auction, conducted by the "Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid
of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty" to
raise funds to build the pedestal. Lazarus was the fourth of
seven children of Moses Lazarus and Esther Nathan, Portuguese
Sephardic Jews whose families were long settled in New York, and
was related through her mother to Benjamin N. Cardozo. From an
early age, she studied American and European literature, as well
as several languages, including German, French, and Italian. Her
writings attracted the attention of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who
corresponded with her up until his death. Lazarus is buried in
Beth-Olom Cemetery in Brooklyn. She wrote her own original poems
and ed