Emma Kaufman

Emma Kaufman (1881-1979) was a Japanese-Canadian activist and philanthropist who worked as an international YWCA administrator. For over 25 years she served as a secretary on the staff of Tokyo Y.W.C.A., and also a member of the national Y.W.C.A. committee of Japan. In 1929 she was honored for her distinguished service to the Japanese Y.W.C.A. by being presented with the Emperor's silver cup.[1] During the Golden Jubilee celebration of the "Y" in Japan, a special ceremony was held for the unveiling of a bust of Kaufman. In 1941 Kaufman was appointed by the world's Y.W.C.A. executive committee to make a survey of the British West Indies. In 1965 she received an International Cooperation Year medal from Cardinal Leger at a ceremony in Montreal.[2] Kaufman is a daughter of the founder of the K-W Y.W.C.A.

Biography

Emma Kaufman was born in Kitchener (then Berlin) in 1881, and died in Toronto in 1979 at the age of 97.[3]

She went to Japan with YWCA in about 1910 and spent 27 year there helping Japanese women liberate themselves from strict 19th century customs. In 1918, Emma was appointed to the position of Associate Secretary for the Tokyo YWCA. As with all the positions Emma held with the YWCA, she declined any salary.[2] The Kaufman family had made their fortune in rubber,[4] and from her inheritance she donated money to the YWCA organization at Kyoto and Nagoya; she built an apartment for Y staff, sponsored 27 young Japanese women for studying abroad, and brought 12 from the USA and Canada to work at the Japanese Y.[2]

She returned to Canada before the Second World War and involved herself in the plight of Japanese-Canadians, many of whom were taken from their West Coast homes during the war and transported to camps on the prairies and in Ontario.[3] Kaufman remained an executive committee member of the YWCA after her work in Japan and spent the rest of her life in Toronto.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Miss Kaufman Appointed To Survey Interned Japs, Kitchener Daily Record, May 8, 1942
  2. 1 2 3 Women of Waterloo County, Ruth Weber Russell, Toronto: Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc. for the Canadian Federation of University Women, Kitchener-Waterloo, 2000
  3. 1 2 3 "Service planned for Emma Kaufman", K-W record. March 8, 1979
  4. ↑ Anne Shannon (2012). Finding Japan: Early Canadian Encounters with Asia. Heritage House Publishing Co. pp. 135–. ISBN 978-1-927051-55-9.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.