Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. The 1903 poem “The New Colossus” by American-Jewish poet Emma Lazarus is inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty:

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she

With silent lips. “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!”

The Statue of Liberty is located near Ellis Island, a common entry point for immigrants making their way into the United States from 1892 to 1954. What do you think Lazarus means when she refers to the Statue of Liberty as the “Mother of Exiles”? What does she mean by “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”?

Teaching Suggestion: Students might benefit from a line-by-line analysis of the poem. Use the text as a springboard for introducing general themes and discussion topics related to the book such as Generosity and Resilience and The Refugee Experience and Prejudice in America.

• Alicia Ostriker reads and discusses Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus” in this recording from the Library of Congress.
• Poetry Society of America’s “On Emma Lazarus’s ‘The New Colossus’” examines the poem and offers biographical details about the poet.

Short Activity

In July 2014, the Migration Policy Institute prepared a report entitled “The Ethiopian Diaspora in the United States,” which provides an overview of the Ethiopian-American community’s demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, their educational attainment, their general income, industries/jobs in which they tend to be employed, and typical locations for their communities in the United States. This paper is 1 of 10 reports prepared by the Migration Policy Institute on various diaspora communities throughout the United States, with the other communities being from Bangladesh, El Salvador, Ghana, Haiti, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Vietnam. Briefly read through the diaspora profiles to compare and contrast: What are some of the unique features you notice about the Ethiopian community in America? What are similarities among all the diaspora profiles?

Teaching Suggestion: With each of the Migration Policy Institute’s reports being roughly 8 pages long, students might devote close reading time to “The Ethiopian Diaspora in the United States,” then allot approximately 15 minutes for skimming some of the other diaspora papers for points of comparison. Highlight the fact that, per the report, Ethiopian immigrants are some of the most recently settled individuals in the United States compared to other diasporas. In terms of similarities, note that all groups tend to be at a socioeconomic disadvantage.

• “From Dishwasher to Millionaire, Ethiopian Refugee Achieves American Dream” is a brief video from Voices of America (VOA) News that describes one Minneapolis-based Ethiopian refugee’s experience growing a successful transportation business.
• “The Only Ethiopian Food Truck in NYC,” a video in the Munchies series “Street Food Icons,” is a look at the Makina Café, the first and only Eritrean and Ethiopian food truck in New York City.