Book Summary
More than a collection of personal stories, Pursuing the Promise is a living historical record that invites readers to look beyond labels and headlines, listen to the people who lived these experiences, and consider what each of us can do to help fulfill the promise of a more just and inclusive America.
The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus
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-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus (1883) established the Statue of Liberty as the ultimate symbol of the United States as a welcoming, diverse nation built by immigrants.
The famous lines—“Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
This book was made possible in part by a grant from the Ohio State Bar Foundation
Credits
Wanda Dillard, publisher, co-author, editor
Ron Shaull, editor, book format designer, co-author
Annie Ross-Womack, co-author
Gaye Reissland, artist and Illustrator, cover designer
Janie Mcgee Artist/Illustrator