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Emma Lazarus was an American poet and writer.

She was born on July 22, 1849, in New York City, New York, USA.

Emma Lazarus is best known for her poem "The New Colossus," which is inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

"The New Colossus" is famous for its lines: "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!"

Lazarus wrote this poem in 1883 as part of a fundraising effort to build the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty.

Her work championed the cause of immigrants and refugees, and she is considered a symbol of American ideals of freedom and welcome to newcomers.

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On October 28, 1886, the people of France presented the United States with a gift to
commemorate the one-hundred year anniversary of their independence (although
it was actually ten years late). The gift has forever been known as the Statue of
Liberty. The status serves as an icon of freedom to the world, and as a welcoming
signal to immigrants arriving from abroad. “The New Colossus,” a famous poem by
American poet Emma Lazarus, was engraved and mounted on the statue’s lower
pedestal to honor the millions of immigrants who came to (and helped create) the
United States of America.

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Based on what Emma Lazarus wrote in “The New Colossus,” what would she say in regard to the passage of the
Chinese Exclusion Act and the Dawes Act? Take on the role of Emma Lazarus and write a post for either The Chinese Exclusion Act or The Dawes Act to the United States
President Grover Cleveland (who oversaw the passage of both acts) and express your opinion! Be sure to explain
what she meant in her poem and include specific evidence and details from each of the acts.

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The Dawes Act (sometimes called the Dawes Severalty Act or General Allotment Act), passed in 1887 under President Grover Cleveland, allowed the federal government to break up tribal lands. The federal government aimed to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream US society by encouraging them towards farming and agriculture, which meant dividing tribal lands into individual plots. Only the Native Americans who accepted the division of tribal lands were allowed to become US citizens. This ended in the government stripping over 90 million acres of tribal land from Native Americans, then selling that land to non-native US citizens.