Publisher Desc.  "The New Colossus" is a sonnet written by American poet Emma Lazarus in 1883 to raise money for the construction of a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. In 1903, the poem was cast onto a bronze plaque and mounted inside the pedestal's lower level. 'The New Colossus' reinvented the statue's purpose, turning Liberty into a welcoming mother, a symbol of hope to the outcasts and downtrodden of the world. John T. Cunningham (an American journalist and historian) wrote: "The Statue of Liberty was not conceived and sculpted as a symbol of immigration, but it quickly became so as immigrant ships passed under the torch and the shining face, heading toward Ellis Island. However, it was Lazarus's poem that permanently stamped on Miss Liberty, the role of unofficial greeter of incoming immigrantsi. In the current political climate, Lazarus's words remain relevant and poignant.