At Red Cross National Headquarters, a Vision of Past and Present Priorities

The author speaking to the Clara Barton tour group before the Tiffany stained glass windows at national Red Cross headquarters.

“Because of the climate crisis, the Red Cross launches nearly twice as many relief operations for major disasters than it did a decade ago.”

Today a group of us tracing the career and legacy of Clara Barton arrived at the ornate national Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C., a building I have been at countless times over my last 48 years of volunteering. Every time I enter, it reminds me of the people who have worked so hard to help millions of people have better lives—whether through disaster or war recovery, aid for military families, or donating the gift of blood.

Built as a memorial to the women of the Civil War with U.S. and private funds, the headquarters features exquisite architecture. The building’s showpiece—the Tiffany stained glass windows—are designed to “symbolize reconciliation following the Civil War and are reputed to be the largest suite of Tiffany windows created for a secular environment.”

A Brief History

We learned how the Red Cross initially focused on domestic and overseas disaster relief efforts, assisted the U.S. military […]

2024-06-05T10:44:05-04:00June 5th, 2024|Clara Barton Tour 2024, climate change, Nursing, nursing history, Public health|0 Comments
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How Did She Do It? A Second Chance to Study Clara Barton’s Legacy

Do you know that game where people ask each other which famous person they would most like to have dinner with? Well, for me it’s Clara Barton. I would jump right to the punch line: Dearest Clara, how DID you do it? 

How did you stand up for enslaved people during the height of the Civil War? How did you manage to care for the men fighting in the Civil War with all the gore that war brings, in your hoop skirt no less?

Men and women alike were frowning upon your activities and actively blocking your efforts—and asking you to simply go home and be a lady. How were you able to help families find their missing husbands, sons, and fathers during and after the war, and then help locate and mark nearly 13,000 graves?

Founding the American Red Cross

And here’s the big one, Clara: How were you able to take the lessons you learned from caring for soldiers during the war and assisting in disasters to build one of the greatest humanitarian organizations of all time, the American Red Cross—as a 59-year-old single woman, no less? Most people told you it was impossible to create an organization that was impartial, neutral, independent of the government, and run by volunteers. Then you led the organization for 23 […]

2024-06-03T11:22:06-04:00June 3rd, 2024|Clara Barton Tour 2024, Nursing|1 Comment
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Mahoney, Thoms, Franklin: Black Nurses and Reformers to Remember

Nursing is a challenging profession that requires expertise, dedication, and compassion. Black nurses have made significant contributions to the field, yet their stories often go untold.

In this second post in a four-part series for this Nurses Month (here’s the first post), I continue to highlight the achievements of Black nurses who have worked to provide quality care despite discrimination and prejudice. This post will focus on Mary Eliza Mahoney (1845-1926), Adah Belle Samuels Thoms (1870-1943), and Martha Minerva Franklin (1870-1968) as well as on the collaboration among them.

Mary Eliza Mahoney

One of the most prominent Black nurses in history, Mary Eliza Mahoney, was born in 1845 to parents free from slavery. She became the first Black registered nurse in the United States in 1879 after completing a rigorous training program at the New England Hospital for Women and Children. She was the only Black student in her class and one of only four out of 41 who completed the rigorous program.

Hospitals did not hire Black nurses, nor did public health agencies, forcing her to work as a private duty nurse for mostly wealthy white families. Mahoney spent the next 40 years in clinical practice while fighting for acceptance of Black nurses into the larger nursing community. Her advocacy inspired many other Black women to enter […]

2026-05-04T11:04:51-04:00May 8th, 2023|Black nurses, Nursing, nursing history|2 Comments
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Honoring Notable Black Nurses of History

USS Red Rover hospital ship. National Library of Medicine.

Nurses Week is scheduled to correspond with the birth of Florence Nightingale (1820-1910).  We do this to honor her work in professionalizing and modernizing nursing. Her contribution to our profession is considerable, and it is right that we pay respect to her. But it is equally right that we put Nurse Nightingale in context so that Nurses Week can celebrate all nurses, and not just the often well-off white women on which most nursing history focuses. This four-part blog series during the month of May will honor a handful of women of color who accomplished remarkable things during Florence Nightingale’s lifetime.

Ann Bradford Stokes

Ann Bradford Stokes (1830-1903) was born into slavery on a Tennessee plantation. In 1863, she escaped and was taken aboard a Union hospital ship. She eventually became one of the first women to be listed as active duty personnel, and the one of the first Black women to serve as a nurse in the navy. Along with five other Black women who had escaped slavery (Alice Kennedy, Sarah Kinno, Ellen Campbell, Dennis Downs, and Betsy Young Fowler), she cared for about 3,000 […]

2023-05-05T11:31:21-04:00May 1st, 2023|Black nurses, Nursing, nursing stories|0 Comments
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Women’s History Month 2023: Telling Our (Nursing) Stories

The National Women’s History Alliance organizes Women’s History Month each March. This year, the theme, “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories,” was picked to draw attention to  “women in every community who have devoted their lives and talents to producing art, pursuing truth, and reflecting the human condition decade after decade.” To this end, the organization has been highlighting such literary notables as Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Gloria Steinem, and Willa Cather, among others.

For Women’s History Month in March 2015, I wrote an editorial in AJN discussing the importance of knowing nursing history and pointing out that as a female-majority profession, nursing’s history is closely entwined with women’s history. Nurses have made significant contributions to developing the health system of this country—indeed, community health services, school health, and public health were built through the efforts of nurses. […]

2023-03-20T09:54:13-04:00March 20th, 2023|Nursing|0 Comments
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