Clarissa Harlowe Barton: A Brief Biography

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I am writing this paper on Clarissa Harlowe Barton also known as Clara Barton. I will show how Clara Barton was a pioneer in American nursing. My paper will examine Clara’s life as the founder of the Red Cross and her work to aid soldiers during major battles during the Civil War. I will show how nursing was a profession that was looked down upon during this time and how her perseverance to care for those less fortunate set many of the ground rules that many of today’s nurses follow even with all the technological innovations in modern medicine.

Clara Barton was born December 25, 1821 in Oxford Massachusetts. She was the youngest of her 4 siblings in a middle class family, Clara was home schooled until the age of 15, where she excelled in academics before she became a teacher at 17. When Clara was 10 her brother david became ill, Clara nursed him back to health for 2 years after medical doctors gave up this is where she learned her medical beginings.

One of the most earliest accomplishments of Clara Barton was to aid the underprivileged kids of her neighborhood by opening a free school in Bordentown, New Jersey.” She started the program in 1852 with six children and very little else, by 1853 there were over 600 children in the program, receiving lessons from teachers housed in locations all over the city”. (http://bordentownhistory.org/) When Clara was unable to run her own school because she was not a man she quit teaching at the school she created and continued to accomplish greater things.

America was in a crisis during this time due to the great many war’s in our country. Women were thought to be the care takers at home while the men went out and fought for our country. When the Clara heard of the shor...

... middle of paper ...

...ials for shelter.” The American Red Cross still help’s those around the world today . Clara also innovated other policies that are still used today to help guide nurses on the best and proper way to care for the whole individuals we treat today dispite inovations in modern medicine and technology

Works Cited

(http://bordentownhistory.org/

Clara Barton Authors: van Hartesveldt, Fred R.

Source:Great Lives from History: The Nineteenth Century; September 2007, p1-4

A. JONES, M. (2011). Race, Class and Gender Disparities in Clara Barton's Late Nineteenth-Century Disaster Relief. Environment & History (09673407), 17(1), 107-131.

Frantz, A. K. (1998). Nursing Pride: Clara Barton in the Spanish-American War. American Journal Of Nursing,98(10), 39

Clara Barton's House: Home of the American Red Cross.

Pryor, Joan S.

Social Education, v60 n2 ps1-12 Feb 1996

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