“I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them” ~Clarissa “Clara” Barton
Clarissa “Clara” Barton is known is the founder and the first president of the American Red Cross. She was a school teacher, civil war nurse, activist and founder and the first president of the American Red Cross.
Three Key Events
- In 1851 after being a teacher for 12 years in different schools around her in Massachusetts and after a year of higher education schooling for teachings in Clinton, New York Clara moved to New Jersey. In New Jersey she opened the first free school otherwise known as the first public school in New Jersey. Under Clara’s guidance the school increased its size to from 6 students to 600 students. The school board decided to hire a man to be the head of the school instead of her, this caused a lot of heartache to Clara and she moved to Washington D.C. in 1854.
- In 1860 when the union army arrived in Washington D.C. Clara came to their rescue. She nursed the injured soldiers in her sister’s living room. Soon after she left her job at the United States Patent Office, where she was known as the first woman to have a government job, and was appointed by Union General Benjamin Butler as the “lady in charge” of the war hospitals. While Clara was working on the front line a bullet tore through the sleeve of her shirt and killed the man she was helping. From that point on she was known as the “Angel on the Battlefield”.
- In 1869 Clara went to Geneva, Switzerland. While there she was working alongside the International Red Cross helping the soldiers of the Franco-Prussian War. During this war she helped the Grand Duchess of Baden in preparing military hospitals and was awarded the Golden Cross of Baden and the Iron Cross of Germany. Clara returned to the United States in 1873 and started a movement to get the United States to become a part of the Red Cross. The American Red Cross was established under the presidency of Chester Arthur. Their first meeting was in April of 1881 and Clara was their president until 1904.
Leadership Style
Thought Clara Barton was right in the mix with all of the projects the American Red Cross helped in she was known to be a very authoritarian type of leader. She made all of the decisions and did not listen to the insight and ideas of other members of the group. This is why she was asked to step down as the president of the American Red Cross and why they chose to go for a more democratic type of leadership.
Criticism
Clara leadership and management styles are the things about her that are criticized the most. She was a very authoritarian leader and she did not keep good records especially financial records. It is said that she took money from donations as her personal income. Clara is also criticized as being too old to be in charge of an organization and often lied about her age and used makeup to make herself look younger.
References
“Clara Barton – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clara_Barton>.
Cobb, Kristine. “Barton, Clara (Informational Paper).” Learning to Give. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. <http://learningtogive.org/papers/paper74.html>.
Sahlman, Rachel. “SPECTRUM Biographies – Clara Barton.” IncWell. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2012. http://www.incwell.com/Biographies/Barton.html.