這首詩是作為一次藝術和文學作品拍賣的捐贈品[2] 由“以自由女神像為目的的巴托爾迪基座基金藝術貸款展覽”（Art Loan Fund Exhibition in Aid of the Bartholdi Pedestal Fund for the Statue of Liberty）舉辦，旨在為基座的建造籌集資金。[3] 拉薩路的貢獻是由募捐人威廉·麥克斯韋爾·伊瓦茨 (William Maxwell Evarts) 所徵求的。起初，她拒絕了，但作家康斯坦斯·凱莉·哈里遜 (Constance Cary Harrison) 說服她，告訴她，這座雕像對於駛入港口的移民來說意義重大。[4] Lazarus 在幫助逃離東歐反猶太人暴動的猶太難民來到紐約的過程中，看到了一種表達她對這些難民同情的方式。[5]
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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"[10]
Bronze plaque inside the Statue of Liberty with the text of the poem
^Lazarus, Emma, The New Colossus, Liberty State Park, [2019-03-02], （原始内容存档于2020-12-22）
^Sutherland, Cara A, The Statue of Liberty: The Museum of the City of New York, Barnes & Noble: 77, 2003, ISBN 0-7607-3890-4, auction of art and literary work; Mark Twain also contributed.
^Young, Bette Roth, Emma Lazarus in Her World: Life and Letters, The Jewish Publication Society: 3, 1997, ISBN 0-8276-0618-4, …fell into obscurity. At the unveiling of the statue […] both Emma and her sonnet were absent […] Georgina Schuyler set in motion a successful attempt to memorialize her friend by placing the poem, inscribed on a bronze tablet, inside the pedestal….
^Felder, Deborah G; Rosen, Diana L, Fifty Jewish Women Who Changed the World, Citadel: 45, 2003, ISBN 0-8065-2443-X, …William Maxwell Evert [sic; presumably a misspelling of "William Maxwell Evarts] asked […] Lazarus[…] to compose original works […] who […] refused […] until […] Constance Cary Harrison[…] suggested that she consider what the statue would mean to the thousand of immigrants who would see it as they sailed into New York….
