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Friday, June 13, 1986
THE DETROIT JEWISHNEWS
*LIBERTY'S PROMISE*
York. He and his wife lived in a
milieu where any enemy could be
dismissed as a Jew.
In 1916, John Humphreys Johnston
— like a number of American ex-
patriates — became a British citizen
as a way of protesting American
neutrality in the Great War. Neither
he nor his wife ever returned to
America.
Now, Anne was cut off from the
two traditions that had nurtured her
family — Judaism and American
patriotism.
In 1926, Bernard Richards, an
American writer, wrote Anne
Humphreys asking if he could include
her sister's Jewish poetry in a pro-
posed series by and about Jews.
On February 26, 1926, Anne sent
Richards a handwritten. letter from
Venice. While her sister's "political-
religious poems are technically as fine
as anything she ever wrote," said
Anne, "they were nevertheless com-
posed in a moment of emotional ex-
citement, which would seem to make
their theme of questionable ap-
propriateness today. In fact, to me, it
seems out of harmony with the spirit
of the present times."
Anne "deplored" as "sectarian pro-
paganda" her sister's Jewish poetry. If
Emma was still alive, she stated, "I
feel sure that she might prefer to be
remembered by the verses written in
a more 'serene' mood."
Anne proposed collecting some of
these "serene" poems "in a small
volume . . . to be published at
Christmas [italics added] time." One
can be sure that the irony of sug-
gesting a Christmas publication date
for Emma Lazarus' "more 'serene' "
writings escaped her older sister.
But there was one piece of Jewish
poetry that Anne could not suppress
— "The New Colossus."
During Emma's lifetime, "The New
Colossus" had not been as popular as
some of her other verse. But in 1903,
her friend, Georgina Schuyler,
rediscovered the poem and realized
that its sentiments would make a
perfect inscription for the Statue of
Liberty. She arranged to have the
poem engraved on a plaque inside the
pedestal. There were no speeches and
no ceremonies. There was not even
press coverage.
But the poem took hold. It is a part
of our national culture. It is hard to
imagine the Statue without it. And it
is hard to remember Emma Lazarus
without it. The sonnet that she had
once been reluctant to write allowed
her name — and her Jewh legacy —
to remain very much alive in a way
that Emma (and her sister Anne) prob-
ably would never have imagined. For
her very Jewish lines enshrined the
vision that most Americans carried in
their heads as a creed.
On the Isle
of Tears
More than 17 million immigrants
passed through Ellis Island. Almost
half of all living Americans can
trace their ancestry to a family
member who entered America
through these 27 acres.
.
ARTHUR J. MAGIDA
Special to The Jewish News
rom around
the globe,
they came
to this
largely
man-made
island one mile from
Manhattan and a scant 300
yards from the New Jersey
shore. Most of these 17
million immigrants traveled
to America in cramped,
foul-smelling steerage. Those
more prosperous traveled on
the upper decks, where the
air was fresh and the food
palatable.
When they reached Ellis
Island, they left their
.belongings, usually
everything they owned, in
the baggage rooms and
climbed the steps to the
Great Hall, the largest room
n-iost of them had ever been
in. As they climbed, doctors
from above watched for
limp's Ind physical
defottiiitifes and -people who
breathed heavily. Clothing
was marked with an "L" for
lameness, an "H" for
possible heart disease and
an "E" for eye problems.
Those detained were later
given complete physical
examinations.
Next came a staccato
barrage of 30 questions in
two minutes. "Name?"
"Birthplace?"
"Destination?" "Have any
money?" "Have a trade?"
"Polygamist?" "Anarchist?"
Those who were healthy
and had answered in the
right way were allowed to
continue on the last phase
of their long journey. In the
years of the heaviest
immigration, 1892 to 1924,
only two percent were
turned back. For them, Ellis
Island was the "Isle of
Tears.'''
The busiest year on Ellis
Island was 1907 (866,660
newcomers). April 17 was
its busiest day (11,747
immigrants).
Hundreds of thousands of
Jews, a good proportion
from Russia, were processed
on Ellis Island. Because
many would rather starve
than accept, non-kosher
food, many arrived in the
United States in a debilitated
state. A kosher kitchen
opened in 1911.
Despite this gesture, many
Jews were still confused
about what life in America
would bode for them. In
the early 1900s, the
commissioner of the island
warned religious
proselytizers to stay away
from newcomers —
especially from Jews.
"Many of our immigrants
are Hebrews," he said," on
their way from persecution
by one style of Christians, •
and when they have
Christian tracts — printed in
Hebrew — put in their
hands, apparently with the
approval of the United
States government, they
wonder what is going to
happen to them here."
Immigration declined after
the mid-1920s. During
World War Two, Ellis Island
was a detention center for
enemy aliens. For a few
years after the war, it was a
„Coast Guard training center.
It was severely pilfered after
it was closed by the
government in 1954, Eleven
years later, Ellis Island
became part of the Statue of
Liberty National Monument.