Search the Community

Meet the Hero: Emma Darling Cushman : A Light in the Darkness https://www.lowellmilkencenter.org/programs/projects/view/a-light-in-the-darkness/hero In 1863 Emma Darling Cushman was born in New York during the Civil War in New York. At a time when few females attended school, Emma studied nursing in college and in 1900 joined the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions. She traveled to Central Turkey, where she helped run the American Hospital in Konya for several years. When WWI broke out in 1914, the Ottomans joined the Central Powers and ordered all foreigners to leave, but Emma refused. She continued operating the hospital and was granted the title “Acting Consul of the Allies and Neutral Nations.” Starting in 1915, the Ottoman government carried out the systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians in what became known as the Armenian Genocide, leaving countless children orphaned. Emma began rescuing Armenian orphans off the streets and placing them in safe homes and basements. When she ran out of hiding places, she turned her hospital into an orphanage, which eventually held over 1,000 children who would have otherwise faced near-certain death. The war raged on for three more years and so did Emma’s tireless humanitarianism. In addition to managing the hospital and operating the orphanage, she oversaw prisoner exchanges and millions of dollars in relief funds. As the war came to a close, Emma’s efforts only expanded. She worked with the Near East Relief agency and newly formed League of Nations to reclaim orphans from Turkish homes. More than 60,000 children were rescued by Emma and others. Emma died in 1930 from Blackwater fever and was buried in Cairo, Egypt.