In New York City, wealthy patrons of the arts were reluctant to support the venture, and the middle classes felt that contributing to the statue was the responsibility of the rich others wondered whether the money might not be better spent in aid of the poor. No money at all had been raised by 1876, America's Centennial and the date originally planned for the statue's inauguration. Despite the country's unprecedented economic growth during its so-called Gilded Age (1878–1889), the statue's supporters struggled to raise funds. Whether accidental or intentional, the emphasis in " The New Colossus" on immigration expresses a prescient view: today the Statue of Liberty continues to greet new immigrants and embodies opportunity and freedom for those seeking a better life in America.Īt the time Lazarus wrote her poem, however, prospects for Lady Liberty's own arrival in the U.S. Because Lazarus, a well-known and well-connected poet in New York, was interested in issues of immigration and justice, these subjects naturally enough found their way into the poem. Written in 1883 for an art auction "In Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund," Lazarus's poem was part of a larger effort to persuade an often skeptical or indifferent public to contribute funds for the American commitment to build the pedestal for the statue. and a sign of their mutual desire for liberty. Sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi had conceived of "Liberty Enlightening the World" as an emblem of solidarity between the people of France and the U.S. Yet in 1883, when she wrote the poem, that symbolic meaning reflected what was still a novel and uncommon perspective. Historical Background (for your convenience, the following account synthesizes the disparate narratives available on the web resources listed above): Since 1902, when Emma Lazarus's famous sonnet was engraved on a bronze plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty, " The New Colossus" has helped to shape our sense of the statue as a symbol of hope for millions of immigrants.From the same source, they can also read an essay on the Gilded Age, which will give students some background on the period they will be studying in this lesson. A student-oriented introduction to the history of the statue's arrival in America is available from America's Library, a link on the EDSITEment-reviewed American Memory.There is another excellent and well-written essay on the history of the statue available through the American Park Network, also a link on The Internet Public Library. Teachers can find a detailed account of the statue's origins on The National Park Service website, a link from the EDSITEment resource The Internet Public Library.The fourth activity, in which students write letters to imaginary groups of nineteenth-century readers to explain the meaning of the Statue of Liberty, is best taught in conjunction with at least one of the preceding activities. The first three activities-in which students compare nineteenth-century and modern ideas about the statue and its symbolic meanings, analyze primary historical documents, and discuss Emma Lazarus's sonnet-may be taught together or separately. It also provides guided explorations of primary historical materials for students at the 6–8 or more advanced levels who are learning about Gilded Age society or about immigration issues in the late nineteenth century. With its focus on events surrounding America's Centennial, this lesson thus provides excellent capstone activities for students in grades 6–8 who are studying U.S. In this lesson, students learn about the effort to convince a skeptical American public to contribute to the effort to erect a pedestal and to bring the Statue of Liberty to New York. The Centennial celebration of 1876, for which the statue had been originally intended, had come and gone, and while the French had kept their end of the bargain by completing the statue itself, the Americans had still not fulfilled their commitment to erect a pedestal. Yet Lazarus's poem was written almost twenty years previously, in conjunction with an auction held in 1883 to raise funds for a pedestal. Since 1902, when the poem was engraved on a bronze plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty, "The New Colossus" has helped to shape our sense of the statue as a symbol of hope for millions of immigrants. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. 74.Įven if they have never heard of the nineteenth-century poet and activist Emma Lazarus, most Americans will probably recognize these lines from her sonnet " The New Colossus": Rusk (New York: New York Public Library, 1949), p. The poet James Russell Lowell in a letter to Emma Lazarus, 17 December 1883, Letters to Emma Lazarus in the Columbia University Library, ed. "Your sonnet gives its subject a raison d'etre."