What Does the Tablet Say on the Statue of Liberty?
The tablet that the Statue of Liberty holds in her left hand is inscribed with the date “JULY IV MDCCLXXVI” – July 4, 1776. The bronze plaque on the statue’s pedestal has the text of the poem “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus engraved upon it.
The most famous phrase associated with the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” comes from the poem “The New Colossus.” The poem was written by Emma Lazarus as part of a campaign to raise money to build a pedestal for the statue. It was read at an auction of art and literary works, but it was not intended as a part of the final pedestal. When the statue opened in 1886, there was no plaque. In 1901, Georgina Schuyler, a friend of Emma Lazarus, began a campaign to memorialize the poem, and in 1903, a bronze plaque with the inscribed poem was mounted on the inner wall of the pedestal.