Queer Places:
18 W 10th St, New York, NY 10011
Beth Olom Cemetery, 2 Cypress Hlls St., Brooklyn, New York 11208 United States
Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 - November 19, 1887) was an American author of poetry, prose, and translations, as well as an activist for Jewish and Georgist causes. Lazarus
is especially remembered for her 1883 sonnet, "The New Colossus", which was inspired by the Statue of Liberty.
Born in New York City to a wealthy, Sephardic Jewish family with Portuguese roots, Emma Lazarus was educated privately in literature, history, and foreign languages. She published her first collection of poems and translations in her teens, earning early praise from figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Lazarus became a passionate advocate for Jewish refugees fleeing Russian pogroms in the 1880s, helping establish educational and vocational programs for new immigrants. In 1883, she penned her famous sonnet, “The New Colossus,” to raise funds for the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. Its immortal lines—"Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"—were cast onto a bronze plaque inside the pedestal in 1903, sixteen years after her death from Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 38.
While Lazarus never married and left behind no explicit diaries or letters confirming her private romantic relationships, modern queer literary scholars frequently examine the subtle homoerotic themes woven through her work.
In published poems such as "Assurance" and "Links," as well as unpublished manuscripts, Lazarus frequently explored deep emotional longing, physical intimacy, and passionate attachment directed toward other women.
Lazarus felt a strong affinity for Walt Whitman, whose openly homoerotic Calamus poems influenced her style. She visited Whitman in 1881, writing warmly of their connection and shared poetic sensibilities regarding love and human affinity.
In 19th-century America, intense emotional and romantic bonds between women were often categorized as "passionate friendships" or "Boston marriages." Because societal norms permitted high levels of intimacy between women under the umbrella of friendship, her personal life was rarely probed by contemporaries, leaving her private experiences largely unrecorded.
Scholars today view Lazarus's work as a crucial bridge in 19th-century American poetry, reflecting both the immigrant experience and a quiet, nuanced expression of same-sex desire.
18 W 10th St
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