Emma Lazarus and - American Institute for History Education

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The Promise of America
Emma Lazarus and “The New Colossus”
By Lorraine Griffith
A reader’s theater for two readers
R1: Emma Lazarus was an American poet born into a Jewish family on
July 22, 1849.
R2: She was in her teens when she began writing poems.
R1: Miss Lazarus shared her poems with Ralph Waldo Emerson, an already famous
American poet. But when he created a collection of poetry, her poems were
conspicuously left out. She was not credited with greatness in her lifetime
because she was a woman.
R2: And because she was Jewish, she knew what it was like to also be judged for
her ethnicity. During the 1880s, there was a vicious wave of anti-Semitism
sweeping through Eastern Europe. As these Jews found refuge in America,
Lazarus became a speaker for her people.
R1: When the opportunity came in 1883 to help raise funds for a pedestal to
hold the French-given Statue of Liberty, Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet
entitled “The New Colossus.”
R2: A colossus is defined as a “statue that is several times larger than life size.”
In her sonnet, she transformed the “brazen giant” into a “Mother of Exiles.”
R1: Her poem speaks to the heart of immigration from personal experience. She
had comforted the “huddled masses yearning to live free” when she helped to
welcome the Jews fleeing the Russian persecution.
R2: Since Emma Lazarus died at the young age of 38, she did not live to see her
poem placed on a plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty.
R1: A Jewish woman’s words welcomed all newly immigrating
Americans as they visited the “Mother of Exiles” in
New York City.

The Promise of America
All: The Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty
By Lorraine Griffith
A reader’s theater for three readers
R1: A gift from the people of France
R2: Over 100 years ago
R3: To the people of the United States
R1: As a symbol of friendship established during the
American Revolution over 200 years ago.
R2: Now a symbol of freedom
R3: Democracy
R2: International friendship
All: Welcome
R1: To the United States of America
R2: Over 300 feet from ground to tip of torch
R3: An index finger eight feet long
R1: One eye, two-and-one-half feet across
R2: Thirty-one tons of copper
R3: One hundred twenty-five tons of steel
R1: Twenty-seven thousand tons of concrete
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R2: Three hundred fifty-four steps from ground to crown
R3: Twenty-two stories high
R1: Twenty-five windows in the crown
R2: Symbolizing natural minerals found on Earth
R3: And heaven’s rays shining over the world
R1: A toga
R2: The Ancient Republic of Rome
R3: Torch
R1: Enlightenment
R2: Chains underfoot
All: Liberty crushing the chains of slavery
R3: Seven rays of the Statue’s crown
R2: The seven seas
R1: The seven continents
R1: And on the tablet
R2: In Roman numerals
All: July 4, 1776
The Statue of Liberty (cont .)
R3: America’s Independence Day
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The Promise of America

The Promise of America
The Statue of Liberty (cont .)
R1: President Grover Cleveland
R2: October 28, 1886
R3: Accepting the statue from France
All: “We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home;
nor shall her chosen altar be neglected.”
Background
Information
The United States needed
France’s help to win the
Revolutionary War against
the British. With the help
of Benjamin Franklin, both
nations developed a friendship.
In 1886, France gave the Statue
of Liberty to the United States
as a gift of that friendship. The
huge statue was broken down
into 350 pieces and shipped in
214 crates. Due to bad storms,
the ship nearly sank at sea.
Once at its destination, it took
four months to reassemble.
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The Promise of America
Emma Lazarus and “The New Colossus” (cont .)
Both: “The New Colossus,” by Emma Lazarus
R1: Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
with conquering limbs astride from land to land;
R2: Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates
shall stand a mighty woman with a torch,
whose flame is the imprisoned lightning,
R2: and her name
R1: Mother of Exiles .
R2: From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome;
R1: her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame .
Both: “Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!”
R2: cries she with silent lips .
Both: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempesttost
to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Background
Information
The first two lines of “The New
Colossus” talk about a Greek
statue called the Colossus
of Rhodes. This statue is no
longer standing today, but
people who saw it long ago
described it. The statue was the
Greek god Helios and it was
erected on the Greek island of
Rhodes. It was about the same
size as the Statue of Liberty.
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“The Immigrant”
Performed by Neil Sedaka
Harbors open there doors to the young searching foreigner
Come to live in the light of the big L of liberty
Plains and open skies bill boards would advertise
Was it anything like that when you arrived
Dream boats carried the future to the heart of America
People were waiting in line for a place by the river
Chorus
It was time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play they tell me the days were sweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room
That people could come from everywhere
Now he arrives with hopes and his heart set on miracles
Come to marry his fortune with a hand full of promises
To find they've closed the door they don't want him anymore
There isn't anymore to go around
Turning away he remembers he once heard a legend
That spoke of a mystical magical land called America
It was time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play they tell me the days were sweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room
That people could come from everywhere
It was time when strangers were welcome here
Music would play they tell me the days were sweet and clear
It was a sweeter tune and there was so much room
That people could come from everywhere

• AMERICA
Written and Performed by Neil Diamond
Far
We've been traveling far
Without a home
But not without a star
Free
Only want to be free
We huddle close
Hang on to a dream
On the boats and on the planes
They're coming to America
Never looking back again
They're coming to America
Home, don't it seem so far away
Oh, we're traveling light today
In the eye of the storm
In the eye of the storm
Home, to a new and a shiny place
Make our bed, and we'll say our grace
Freedom's light burning warm
Freedom's light burning warm
Everywhere around the world
They're coming to America
Every time that flag's unfurled
They're coming to America
Got a dream to take them there
They're coming to America
Got a dream they've come to share
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
They're coming to America
Today, today, today, today, today
My country 'tis of thee
Today
Sweet land of liberty
Today
Of thee I sing
Today
Of thee I sing
Today

Vachel Lindsay. 1879–1931
82. The Eagle That Is Forgotten
[John P. Altgeld. Born December 30, 1847; died March 12, 1902.]
SLEEP softly * * * eagle forgotten * * * under the stone.
Time has its way with you there, and the clay has its own.
"We have buried him now," thought your foes, and in secret rejoiced.
They made a brave show of their mourning, their hatred unvoiced.
They had snarled at you, barked at you, foamed at you, day after day, 5
Now you were ended. They praised you, * * * and laid you away.
The others that mourned you in silence and terror and truth,
The widow bereft of her pittance, the boy without youth,
The mocked and the scorned and the wounded, the lame and the poor
That should have remembered forever, * * * remember no more. 10
Where are those lovers of yours, on what name do they call
The lost, that in armies wept over your funeral pall?
They call on the names of a hundred high-valiant ones,
A hundred white eagles have risen, the sons of your sons,
The zeal in their wings is a zeal that your dreaming began 15
The valor that wore out your soul in the service of man.
Sleep softly, * * * eagle forgotten, * * * under the stone,
Time has its way with you there and the clay has its own.
Sleep on, O brave hearted, O wise man, that kindled the flame—
To live in mankind is far more than to live in a name, 20
To live in mankind, far, far more * * * than to live in a name.

Lyrics An-: ysis \m-m-lr[-- - - - - t
Step 1.Observatlon
A. Listen to the song. Form an overall impression of the song. Jot down or describe your overall feeling (e.g., sadness or joy). Next,
examine individual lyrics. B. Use the chart below to list musicians, style, and lyrics in the song.
Musicians
Step 2. Inference
Based an your analysis above, list three things you might infer from the song.
1.
2.
3.
Step 3. Questions
A. What questions do these lyrics raise in your mind? E. List two things the song tells you about life in the United States
at the time it was written:
B. Where could you find the answers?
C. Why do you think this song was written?
D. What evidence in the song helps you know why itwaswritten?
Quote from the lyrics.
Style Lyrics
F. Write a question to the composer that is left unanswered by
this song.
G. How might this song be useful to historians?
Teacherk note: An excellent source for songs of this time period is Smithsonian Folkway Recordings, 750 9th Street NW, Suite 4100,
Washington, DC 20560-0953, www.Folkways.sl.edu or www.Folklife.sl.edu.