Category Archives: Places

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free . . . “

Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, about 1905. Courtesy, U.S. Library of Congress.
Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, about 1905. Courtesy, U.S. Library of Congress.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

- Emma Lazarus

Torch of the Statue of Liberty on display at the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876. Courtesy, U.S. Library of Congress.
Torch of the Statue of Liberty on display at the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876. Courtesy, U.S. Library of Congress.

Poet Emma Lazarus wrote "The New Colossus" in 1883 as part of the effort to raise funds to pay for the base of the Statue of Liberty. A copy of her sonnet is on a plaque placed there in 1903.

Plaque at the Statue of Liberty, erected 1903. Souvenir real photo postcard, about 1930.
Plaque at the Statue of Liberty, erected 1903. Souvenir real photo postcard, about 1930.

“Welcome to the land of freedom” – Immigrants first see the Statue of Liberty

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, July 2, 1887. Courtesy, Library of Congress.
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, July 2, 1887. Courtesy, Library of Congress.

"NEW YORK - WELCOME TO THE LAND OF FREEDOM - AN OCEAN STEAMER PASSING THE STATUE OF LIBERTY: SCENE ON THE STEERAGE DECK."

That's the caption of this engraving, which appeared in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper on July 2, 1887.