Unit VII: What, Then, Is This American? ca. 1865 - 1900

Question/Problem 8: What pushed immigrants from their homelands and pulled them to the United States?

This poem appears on the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor

Emma Lazarus

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!'

Found in Diane Ravitch, ed. The American Reader: Words that Moved a Nation (New York: Harper Collins, 1990) pp. 174-175.