Y_Unite4_Lesson-6

Clara Barton is an educator and pro-human welfare. She was born on December 25, 1821 in Oxford, Massachusetts. She has four siblings and the youngest in the family. Her father, Stephen Barton, was a successful farmer. When Clara was a teenager, she took care of her ill brother, this was her first experience as a nurse.

Clara Barton became a teacher upon the recommendation of L.N. Fowler. She began teaching when she was 18 years old. A few years later, she founded a school for children whose parents are workers. In 1852, she moved to New Jersey and taught at the first free school. However, she discovered that the school hired a man twice her salary. She left her job saying that she would never work for less than a man. In 1854, she was hired at the US Patent Office in Washington, DC, where she worked as a recording clerk. She was the first woman to work for such a position. She was also paid the same amount as her male colleagues.

Barton quit her job in the year 1861 when the Civil War began. She helped distribute supplies to the Army during the war. She became the head nurse for General Benjamin Butler’s unit in 1864 despite having no formal medical training. After the war, she helped find missing soldiers and marked graves.

Barton traveled to Europe in 1869. During her stay in Switzerland, she discovered the International Red Cross. She came back to the U.S. and helped establish the American Society of Red Cross. Helping people in times of war and conflict had become her life-long career.