What happened to Lady Liberty's 'world-wide welcome'?

Celebrating Thanksgiving with a reading of ‘The New Colossus’ and a reminder of what we once offered the huddled masses.

Thanksgiving is a holiday filled with tension.

From how the gravy gets made to how the genocide gets left out of the story, we are quick to defend what we believe in under the guise of what we’re thankful for.

This year, I’m thankful for a poem written in 1883 to raise money for the Statue of Liberty.

“The New Colossus” — a 14-line poem cast in bronze on the foundation of New York’s epic monument — is what transformed this fixture of the harbor from an homage to the principles of international republicanism to a symbol of hope to the downtrodden of the world.

My sister-in-law asked my husband to read this poem at Thanksgiving this year, and it stirred up all kinds of emotions in me as we gathered around for a moment before the meal.

I was tasked to set up Frank’s reading. “Emma Lazarus was a Jewish poet who wrote this piece the year after my own immigrant ancestor came through this very harbor,” I explained to the group. “A decade later, his wife would join him with their two children, and they were among the first immigrants to pass through Ellis Island.”

They arrived in the great hall on Nov. 21, 1892.

A date I have committed to memory because I don’t want to forget that my ancestors were part of the poor, the tired, the huddled masses who came here for a better life.

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