Martha Sharp

American humanitarian and social justice advocate

Martha Ingham Dickie Sharp Cogan (April 25, 1905 – December 6, 1999) was an American Unitarian who was involved in humanitarian and social justice work with her first husband, a Unitarian minister, Waitstill Sharp, and others of her denomination, and so helped hundreds of Jews to escape Nazi persecution, through relocation and other efforts. In September 2005, Martha and Waitstill Sharp were named by the Yad Vashem organization as "Righteous Among the Nations", the second and third of five Americans to receive this honor. The subsequent ceremony involved the presentation of a medal and certificate of honor to the Sharps' daughter, Martha Sharp Joukowsky, amidst a large audience that included one of the children that her parents had helped get out of France, Eva Esther Feigl.

Martha Ingham Dickie was born in Providence, Rhode Island on April 25, 1905, the daughter of James Edward Ingham and Elizabeth Alice Whelan. When her training at Northwestern was complete, she accepted the position of Director of Girls’ Work at Hull House, where she acted as social worker to oversee 500 girls. She married Waitstill Sharp in 1927, and took temporary leave from her work. In 1928, Waitstill enrolled in a master's program at Harvard Divinity School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At the same time, Martha began and subsequently completed an M. A. in literature at Radcliffe College in the same community. The couple separated after World War II, and were divorced in 1954. In 1957, she married David H. Cogan, a wealthy Jewish businessman and inventor, and devoted herself to charitable and humanitarian causes here and abroad, serving on the boards of Hadassah, the Girls Clubs of America, and other nonprofit organizations. Martha Sharp died in 1999, at the age of 94 in Providence, Rhode Island. She was survived by her daughter, Martha Sharp Joukowsky, a retired Brown University professor and her son, Waitstill Hastings Sharp Jr.

Martha and Waitstill Sharp were recruited to work in Czechoslovakia, where a large community of Unitarians were present under the leadership of Norbert Capek. She lost in a landslide with 36.4% of the vote. In 1950, Martha accepted a position in the National Security Resources Board, which would mobilize resources in the event of a Soviet attack. She resigned as President Dwight Eisenhower was inaugurated, and moved back to New York. By then, her marriage with Waitstill had degraded, and the two separated, believing the hardships they had endured during World War II were just too much. She remarried, and took the name Cogan.

On 9 September 2005, Martha and Waitstill Sharp were named by the historical remembrance organization Yad Vashem as "Righteous Among the Nations", labeled as individuals who risked their lives to help Jews escape the Holocaust despite danger to themselves and others. The group cited the couple's "meritorious assistance to other Jewish fugitives of Nazi terror", showing much bravery. the second and third Americans so honored (after Varian Fry), with their names being inscribed in a wall in Jerusalem. Eva Feigl gave a speech on that date, describing how she never forgot Martha Sharp when they got to America. An educational curriculum including the Sharps is featured at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. A scholarly book described World War II and the work of the Sharps, which includes significant information of the context of their work among other relief workers (and the Unitarian Service Committee), Was written by Susan Elisabeth Subak, Rescue and Flight, and published in 2010.