Share the excerpt of the poem below: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free… I lift my lamp beside the golden door. ~Emma Lazarus The New Colossus
Ask students to compare the immigration sentiment expressed in The New Colossus to what you have learned about immigration policy in the United States today. Students work individually or in pairs to compose alternative lines or additional verses to the poem, in order to express present-day immigration policy.
For example:
“Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses your tempest-tossed yearning to breathe free…. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Becomes:
“Give me your educated, your outstanding, your CEO’s and PhD’s, (etc.)