The American Red Cross, a humanitarian organization that provide emergency services ranging from small house fires to multi-state natural disasters, responds to an emergency every eight minutes. This organization is run by 95% of volunteers who deliver vital services to those in crisis. In August 2017, the United States had one of the most damaging hurricanes in its history, Hurricane Harvey. The hurricane started as a tropical depression and quickly grew into a major hurricane in forty hours. Over $229 million was distributed to the victims of this hurricane and served more than 4.5 million meals and snacks across the states of Texas and Louisiana. If it wasn’t for Clara Barton establishing the organization in the United States, the American Red Cross wouldn’t have been able to help so many people who have fallen victim to so many different kinds of tragedies.
Clarissa “Clara” Harlowe Barton was born in North Oxford, Massachusetts on December 25th, 1821. Her mother was Sarah Stone Barton and her father was Captain Stephen Barton, a member of the local militia. Captain Barton served under General Wayne in the French and Indian Wars. “His soldier habits and tastes never left him,” Clara says in her book The Story of My Childhood. “Those were also strong political days- Andrew Jackson days- and very naturally my father became my instructor in military and political lore,” Barton also says in the book. Barton talks about how her father taught her all about geography and the battlefield at a very young age which hooked Barton and in return helped develop a very strong relationship with her father. As for her mother, Sarah Barton was known for her independence and a temper. Clara grew up being the youngest of five children, Dorothea, Stephen, David, and Sarah. From a young age of one years old, her siblings began tutoring her reading and mathematics. By the age of three, Barton was going to school with her brother Stephen.
At school Clara meet Nancy Fitts, who she describes as “the playmate of my childhood; the “chum” of laughing girlhood; the faithful trusted companion of young womanhood, and the beloved life friend that the relentless grasp of time has neither changed, nor taken from me.” Nancy Fitts is a significant person in Clara’s life because she is one of Clara’s only friends growing up. From the time Clara learned to talk, she was a very shy child and the timidity stayed with her throughout her childhood causing her to not make friends. Clara developed a very special bond with her siblings because of this shyness. When her older brother, David, fell of the roof of the barn in 1833, Clara took this accident very personally and dropped out of school for two years to take care of her sibling. David became her first patient which received daily medicine and “leech care” that consisted of applying and removing leeches to help “bleed” the patient. She continued to care for David even when doctors had given up and David ended up making a full recovery.
After caring for David, Clara’s parents sent her to high school in attempts to make Clara lose her shyness but this attempt failed. Clara became severely depressed and wouldn’t eat so returned home to improve her health. The Barton family had to relocate after a family member died to help the wife and four children with the farm. The house was in very bad shape so Clara quickly became occupied with painting and repairing the house to distract herself from her high school experience. During this time on the farm, she learned many activities such as horseback riding and social skills from her cousins.
In hopes of keeping her shyness at bay, Clara’s parents quickly urged her to become a schoolteacher. In 1838, Barton received her teaching certificate at the age of seventeen years old. The profession ended up greatly motivating her so much that she worked as a teacher for twelve years. She related easily to all the children, even the rambunctious ones since she often played with her brothers and male cousins, and in return this helped the students respect her. After her mother’s death, Clara went to college in New York and during her time there, she developed a talent of writing. In 1852, she became aware of the lack of schooling in the town over, Bordentown. During that year, she opened a free public school, the first one in New Jersey. The school was very successful with Barton running it to the point that the town raised enough money to open a second building. Once the second building was completed, the school board demoted Barton from principal to “female assistant” because they believed it was an unfit position for a woman. She had a nervous breakdown that lead to her quitting.
In 1855, Clara moved down to Washington D.C. to look for a warmer climate and new career. She found work as a clerk in the US Patent Office, becoming the first woman to receive clerkship and the same salary as a man.