Religious Liberty and “See America”
A blog post by Deputy Director Tracie Guy-Decker. Read more posts from Tracie by clicking HERE.
Back in February of 2018, my family visited Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. In the giftshop, I was delighted to find a postcard of the National Park Service travel poster created for the monument. In the same style as the posters that inspired our own “See America” poster of the Lloyd Street Synagogue, the image features an excerpt of Emma Lazarus’s poem from the statue’s base.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, when I was sorting some books and rediscovered the postcard. The image itself remains compelling for me, but the words have taken on new import:
“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-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
As our country struggles with questions of who is an American and what kinds of new Americans we seek to welcome, re-reading Emma Lazarus’ words was a salve for me. As I sat in my living room, postcard in hand, reading the words, a shock of resonance shot through me.
The National Park Service travel posters of American treasures presented a specific vision of America: vast, unspoiled, idyllic. When I created our own poster of the Lloyd Street Synagogue in that same dialect, I sought to borrow some of the NPS brand for our own treasure—and for the notion of religious liberty it represents. Seeing the Statue of Liberty and Emma Lazarus’ poem in that same idiom at this time gave me a thrill.
The NPS posters paint a picture of America that is the grandest, most beautiful version of the country. In my mind, welcoming and caring for the stranger, and allowing everyone to worship as they see fit—without interference from the government—are both a part of that most beautiful version. I look forward to continuing to describe and create that version of America.
