Title: What Emma Wrote: The Woman Behind the Words on the Statue of Liberty
By: Ann Diament Koffsky
Apples & Honey Press
40 pages
Ann Koffsky’s newest book is not just a story about a poet. It is also the story of an advocate, and of someone with a big heart. This inspiring biography of Emma Lazarus, known for her poem The New Colossus, which is carved onto a bronze plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty, weaves the story of the young poet’s life into a larger context about immigration in general.
Emma Lazarus grew up in a wealthy Jewish family in New York City. She knew little of poverty and, it seems, had probably never met a poor person. But one day, she overheard people talking about “immigrants.” At first, she did not know what immigrants were. Curious, she went to Wards Island, where many of these immigrants lived, and got to know them. She learned that many of them were Jewish and had come to America to escape persecution in their home countries.
Lazarus might have formed a bond with them for that reason. Koffsky writes:
“It was dangerous. People burned our homes because we’re Jewish.”
Emma gasped. I’m Jewish! She thought. Why would someone hurt anyone just because they were Jewish?
This is an excellent question, and I am glad Koffsky asked it, but we never learn the answer, and remain as perplexed as Lazarus was when she asked it. Lazarus returned again and again to Wards Island to meet with the immigrants and hear their stories. Then one day, she read an article in a magazine written by someone who felt that the immigrants’ problems were to be blamed only on themselves. This incensed her, and she went right to the editor and demanded that someone answer the writer. What the editor suggested shocked her: He suggested that she answer the writer herself. This led to a series of articles all based on what Lazarus had learned about the immigrants she spent time with on Wards Island. She felt they deserved to be welcomed to America.
As the subject of immigration is all over the news lately, this book is a clarion call for the acceptance of immigrants, couched in an accessible and relatable biography of Emma Lazarus. We learn that all Lazarus ever wanted to do was write. She wrote about kings and goddesses and heroes as a young child, but later turned her attention to real people. After spending so much time with the people who lived on Wards Island, she developed an understanding that she could share with others through her writing. She realized that this was better than any writing she had ever done.
Over time, Lazarus changed the hearts of people who were at first not so welcoming to the immigrants, and Koffsky hopes to change her readers’ hearts too. She ends her book this way:
Emma’s poem is carved into a metal plate inside the statue’s base. It reminds visitors how important it is to welcome immigrants with kindness.
What Emma Wrote: The Woman Behind the Words on the Statue of Liberty shares an important story for our times. Lazarus herself was descended from immigrants to America, and Koffsky’s book reminds us that, like Lazarus, who spent so much time with them, we should be patient, get to know them, and listen to their stories. The text is approachable and meaningful, and will teach young readers not only about Emma Lazarus but also about some of the immigrants who came to America over a century ago. This would be the perfect book for teachers to use to introduce the topic of immigration to a class, or to pair with a visit to the Statue of Liberty.