US History

The Development of the Industrial United States (1870-1900)

The Emergence of Modern America (1890-1930)

Women

This collection uses primary sources to explore the early history of the American Red Cross.

A letter by Clara Barton, president of the American Red Cross, to May Wright Sewall, president of the National Council of Women, 1888.

Clara Barton was often referred to as “The Angel of the Battlefield” because of her work helping wounded soldiers during the American Civil War. Following the war, Barton met activists such as Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass and became affiliated with women’s rights and civil rights activism. Barton founded the American Red Cross (ARC) in 1881. In this letter, Barton is responding to a request by May Wright Sewall, who wanted the ARC to become an ally of the National Council of Women. May Wright Sewall was an activist most known for her work in the suffrage movement. She served as the president of the National Council of Woman of the United States from 1897 to 1899.

Transcription:

Washington DC. July 6/88

Dear May Wright Sewall:<br>
My beloved friend

I pray you will not take for granted any thing which I may or may not do, but always proceed to tell one plainly what I ought to do. 

I will be most happy to lay before our meeting the subject of the organization of the Red Cross becoming an ally of the National Council & will give you the result before the 1st of October.

I look for the greatest progress and immense results from the “National Council,” its five officers form a galaxy of power & strength, and it will lay a reforming and healing hand on all needy points.

I was at “Wellesley” and at “Lasselle” [sic] two weeks ago. And I thought of your institution and wished I could see it[?].

I missed you at the Boston Convention - it was excellent and popular. And dear Lucy Stone was as sweet and calm as a summary morning. It was a filling finale to the great and grand meeting which so honored hour national Capital and where we did not miss you. In dear love & appreciation I am Always your Clara Barton


An open letter to Clara Barton, president of the American Red Cross, from members of the Club Federico de la Torre, 1897.

This letter was published in Spanish-language newspapers but also sent to Clara Barton. Members of the Club Federico de la Torre, part of the Cuban Revolutionary Party, expressed concern over the ability of the American Red Cross to remain neutral while providing service on the ground in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Since the United States backed Cuba’s fight for independence from Spain, and because the Spanish Red Cross refused to treat Cuban citizens medically, the Club questioned Barton’s assertion that the American Red Cross would remain neutral and respond to the needs of those on both sides of the conflict.

A 1918 photograph of American Red Cross volunteers preparing surgical dressings.

This photograph shows female American Red Cross (ARC) volunteers making surgical dressings for victims of the the influenza pandemic of 1917-1918, which affected as many as 500 million people worldwide. The ARC provided a vehicle for the eager American public to give aid and humanitarian assistance during this crisis. By 1919, the American Red Cross had thirty-three million people on its member rolls.

An excerpt from “The American Red Cross: Organization and Activities,” an informational booklet published in 1917.

This booklet, published on May 24, 1917, describes the organizational structure, mission, and financial standing of the American Red Cross (ARC). It details the ARC’s responsibilities toward the US Army and Navy, and its roles in civilian emergency and disaster relief. The publication also describes how the ARC met these responsibilities through the work of different divisions, including ambulance services, base hospitals, first aid training, home health, and supplies. 

At the time this booklet was published, the US had just entered World War I a month prior and President Woodrow Wilson had placed the American Red Cross under the control of the American Red Cross War Council. As a result, the ARC pulled out of all Central Power countries (Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire) and revoked its neutrality stance. The ARC would no longer provide services to citizens in or from enemy countries.

A poster titled “Help Your American Red Cross,” ca. 1918.

Posters like this one were used to encourage people to become members of the American Red Cross (ARC) at the cost of one dollar per year. The depiction of an ARC nurse, an ARC ambulance, and a wounded soldier against the backdrop of an explosion, were designed to pack an emotional punch while asking for a minimal financial commitment from the American public.

This poster was distributed as part of a major fundraising campaign organized by the War Council of the American Red Cross and its chair Henry P. Davison with the goal of raising 100 million dollars. The War Council of the American Red Cross was an all-male group of bankers, industrialists, and community leaders charged with restructuring the American Red Cross (ARC) for wartime. Davison recruited a former Secretary of the Interior and men he considered to be the most talented US corporate leaders, including executives from Anaconda Copper, the American Tobacco Company, American Steel Foundries, the Guaranty Trust Company, AT&T, and American Express, to volunteer in critical organizational ARC posts.

An American Red Cross fundraising poster, distributed during World War I, ca. 1917.

Posters like this one were used to encourage people to become members of the American Red Cross (ARC). This poster was distributed as part of a major fundraising campaign organized by the War Council of the American Red Cross and its chair Henry P. Davison with the goal of raising 100 million dollars.

The 100 million dollars raised by the War Council was used to support the war effort in Europe, mainly France and England. An ARC commission of eighteen men was assigned to manage the use of funds in Europe. This commission quickly decided that the American Red Cross should manage all other American charity organizations or services working in Europe. Some organizations resisted this effort, but the ARC War Council ran a very successful fundraising campaign, with the help of posters like this one that describes charitable giving as a citizen’s duty in wartime. Smaller charities and organizations realized that if they wanted funds from the ARC, they needed to work with the ARC and relinquish some control of their operations.

A 1918 photograph of members of the Toussaint L’Ouverture chapter of the American Red Cross, Savannah, Georgia.

The Toussaint L’Ouverture chapter of the American Red Cross was based in Savannah, Georgia and Chatham County. The photograph shows members of this chapter, nurse trainees, and their instructor. Many of the women pictured are African American. The chapter is named Toussaint L’Ouverture, leader of the Haitian Revolution.

African American nurses have a long record of wartime and civilian service, including service during the Civil War and Spanish American War. However, people of color continuously encountered discrimination as nurses in both military and civilian organizations. In 1917, when the US entered World War I, the need for nurses was staggering, but the American Red Cross initially refused entry to one thousand African American nurses using the excuse of a lack of segregated housing. Eventually, the War Department consented to authorize African American nurses into the Army Nurse Corps and over 1,800 African American nurses were certified by the American Red Cross to serve during World War I, though fewer ended up serving.

An American Red Cross poster titled “In the Service of Those Who Suffer,” ca. 1919.

Before the official involvement of the US in World War I, most American Red Cross (ARC) posters included depictions of nurses to encourage the public to donate to the war effort in Europe. The nurse figure in early posters was typically not very feminine; she represented both the neutrality of the US and the Red Cross. However, after the US entered the war, the US Division of Pictorial Publicity (DPP) took over ARC poster production. The DPP used a more feminized nurse to catch attention and raise money. 

A bulletin issued by the War Council of the American Red Cross in 1918.

This bulletin serves as a report to the American people on the activities of the American Red Cross (ARC). It begins with a quote from President Woodrow Wilson. The quote, along with the first two paragraphs, stand in sharp contrast to the original, neutral mission of the ARC under the leadership of Clara Barton. Under the management of the War Council, the ARC was now the “mobilized heart and spirit of the American people,” an organization dedicated to serving “Americans in all parts of the world [who] were determined to help their home country.” The bulletin includes brief information on supplies and money collected during fundraising campaigns.

A 1919 American Red Cross press release about an award given to African American volunteer Rev. R. H. Windsor.

This press release announces the American Red Cross (ARC) award of a twelve-star service pin to Reverend R. H. Windsor, a “zealous Red Cross worker” from Rayville, Louisiana. Windsor received this award because of the enlistment of twelve of his nineteen of his sons in the military during World War I. W. E. B. Du Bois collected this press release, likely for use in a book to be titled *The Black Man in the Wounded World*. 

An excerpt from a 1919 report of the New Orleans Chapter of the American Red Cross.

This publication records the history of the New Orleans Chapter of the American Red Cross (ARC) from its founding in 1917 to 1919. The report is extremely detailed, including copies of correspondence, lists of committee members, and financial accounting for each service branch of that chapter. This excerpt focuses on how the national headquarters in Washington, DC coordinated financial accounting across all the ARC chapters and how money flowed between the national ARC and state chapters. 

A patriotic World War I poster for the American Red Cross, ca. 1920.

In this poster, volunteering and donating to the American Red Cross (ARC) are both presented as a citizen’s patriotic duty. The poster’s text strongly suggests that avoiding membership in the ARC is un-American. The design and message of this poster refute the organization’s history of neutrality prior to the start of World War I.

A 1923 memo from African American activist Walter F. White to W. E. B. Du Bois.

In this memo, civil rights activist and future leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Walter F. White, describes how people of color were denied representation at the national American Red Cross (ARC) headquarters in Washington, DC. Mr. White relates a private conversation with an ARC official who said that letting the ARC know African Americans would no longer donate money to ARC fundraisers would cause the American Red Cross to reconsider its attitude toward African Americans in leadership. The memo also details the racist views of an ARC worker, Miss Phelps, stationed in Tuskegee, Alabama. This memo speaks to the ARC’s policy shift since the early leadership of Clara Barton. Barton, an activist with lifelong connections to civil rights leaders such as Frederick Douglass, ensured that the American Red Cross stepped in to treat African Americans when other relief organizations refused.

A 1979 interview with Susan Hicks about her work with the Red Cross in Charlotte, North Carolina during and after World War I. 

Susan Hicks describes the work of Charlotte’s Red Cross organization during and after World War I, including services provided to returning soldiers and aid during a flu outbreak in 1919. 

Questions

1. Carefully review the [open letter to Clara Barton](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1817). What reasons did Club Federico de la Torre members have for questioning the American Red Cross’s neutrality? Do you think the American Red Cross should have been neutral in wartime? Why or why not? Do you think humanitarian organizations should be neutral today?
2. Examine the excerpt from “[The American Red Cross: Organization and Activities](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1819)” booklet. Compare the list of names in leadership positions to images of American Red Cross volunteers from World War I such as the photograph of [American Red Cross volunteers preparing surgical dressings](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1818) and the photograph of the members of the [Toussaint L’Ouverture chapter](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1822) of the American Red Cross and others found in DPLA using search terms such as “[World War I American Red Cross volunteers](https://dp.la/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=World+War+I+American+Red+Cross+volunteers).” Describe the volunteers working in the different departments of the American Red Cross. Based on the names listed in the booklet and the photographs, what volunteer opportunities existed for women? For men? For people of color?
3. Do a close reading of the [bulletin issued by the War Council of the American Red Cross](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1824). In what ways does the author use language that promotes the American Red Cross? Is the report as objective? Why or why not? Which American values does this poster encourage? 
4. Examine the posters including “[Help Your American Red Cross](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1820),” the [fundraising poster](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1821), “[In the Service of Those Who Suffer](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1823),” and the [patriotic World War I poster](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1827). What symbols do these posters use and what might these symbols mean? In what ways do these posters use exaggerated elements to make a point? How were these posters designed to make viewers feel?
5. Compare and contrast the [press release](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1825) about an award given to African American volunteer Rev. R. H. Windsor, which was written by a white author, to the [memo from Walter F. White to W. E. B. Du Bois](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1828). How are the experiences of people of color described in each document? How might the author’s race affect his or her description of these experiences? Do you believe withholding financial support would encourage the American Red Cross to listen to African American concerns? Why or why not?

Activity

1. Have students listen to the [oral history with Susan Hicks](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1829), who worked for the Red Cross during and after World War I. Then, ask students to gather other resources, images, and personal accounts of people who volunteered or worked for the American Red Cross in its first fifty years from DPLA. Using these materials, ask students to imagine that they are one of these early ARC volunteers or workers. Students should consider questions such as: What does a typical day look like for that person? Why might this person have chosen this work? Why did this person join the American Red Cross? Where was that person stationed? Have students write a letter to a friend or family member describing their experiences, from the perspective of the person they selected from the primary sources.

2. Ask students to examine pages 31-32 from the [1919 report of the New Orleans Chapter](https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/beginnings-of-the-american-red-cross/sources/1826) of the American Red Cross and identify the costs associated with the organization’s relief work as well as the revenue collected by the Red Cross. Convert the amount to today’s dollars using an [inflation calculator](http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/). Then, have students visit the American Red Cross website’s [publications page](http://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/publications) and select one of the three-month disaster relief updates available, preferably from the last two years. Students should write a brief summary comparing the amounts spent on the contemporary relief work to the converted amount from 1916-1919. 

Teaching Guide: Exploring the Early American Red Cross

Resources

1. [Our History](http://www.redcross.org/about-us/who-we-are/history), American Red Cross. 
2. [American Nurses in World War I](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/the-great-war-american-nurses-world-war-1/), PBS.  
3. [Clara Barton](https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/clara-barton), National Women’s History Museum. 
4. [Clara Barton Birthplace Museum](http://www.clarabartonbirthplace.org/). 

Overview

The American Red Cross (officially named The American National Red Cross) was founded in 1881 by Clara Barton, an American humanitarian and civil rights activist. Barton modeled the American Red Cross (ARC) after the International Red Cross, based in Geneva, Switzerland, which she encountered while volunteering in Europe during the late 1800s. She envisioned an organization that would provide humanitarian aid during wartime and in the event of national calamities.
 
Barton served as the organization’s president from 1881 to 1904. Under her leadership, the American Red Cross provided relief and support during the 1887 yellow fever epidemic in Florida, an 1889 flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the Spanish-American War, and the 1900 flood in Galveston, Texas. The ARC also sent aid and supplies during the 1891 Russian Famine and the South African War (1899-1902). During the early twentieth century, the Red Cross formalized a national network for recruitment and training of professional nurses, primarily women, for emergency preparedness and wartime service. Upon the United States’ entry into World War I, President Woodrow Wilson appointed a War Council to run the ARC. In 1914, the first 138 ARC nurses sailed to Europe on the SS Red Cross (also called the “Mercy Ship”) to work in war zones in France, England, Germany, Austria, and Hungary. 

During World War I, the ARC also ran an aggressive enrollment campaign, and by the summer of 1918, the ARC boasted 9,000 nurses, with plans to recruit at least 40,000 more. This set uses photographs, letters, posters, and publications to explore the beginnings of the American Red Cross under the initial leadership of Clara Barton, its shift away from neutrality and civil rights during wartime, and its impact on the establishment of a female workforce in the United States.

English

Beginnings of the American Red Cross

american-red-cross_12_fa1fe42759d78d38468cbf6a094c7ab4.jpg

Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum via Smithsonian Institution.

Grant, Gordon, “Loyalty to one means loyalty to both,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/fa1fe42759d78d38468cbf6a094c7ab4. 

A patriotic World War I poster for the American Red Cross, ca. 1920.

Cite this item

Tips for Students

Item 12 of 14 in the Primary Source Set Beginnings of the American Red Cross