September 5: Relief to Michigan Victims

On 5 September 1881, the American Red Cross provided its first disaster relief. The relief was given to fire victims in Michigan’s thumb area.

After a drought in July and August, according to Walter J. Rummel in “The Great Fire of 1881” on Monday, September 5, “Suddenly, the entire thumb seemed to erupt into one gigantic catastrophe that proved to be one of most disastrous and widespread fires that the Midwest had ever seen…. When the fire finally burned itself out, there were 282 known dead, more than 3,400 buildings destroyed, and almost 15,000 residents homeless.”

The American Red Cross can trace its roots to 1863 when the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was formed by Henry Dunant. In 1901, Durant received with Frédéric Passy the first Nobel Peace Prize. In 1963, the ICRC was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

Initially, a primary concern of the Red Cross was helping people on the battlefield. The symbol of the ICRC—the red cross on a white background—is the reverse of the Swiss flag. Later, the Red Crescent and the Red Diamond were added as symbols.
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Clara Barton was instrumental in bringing the Red Cross to America. Because of her work with the wounded during the American Civil War, she was known as the “Angel of the Battlefield.” Barton learned of the Red Cross movement on a trip to Europe after the Civil War. After returning to the United States, on 21 May 1881, she was one of the individuals who founded the American Association of the Red Cross. The first chapter of the Red Cross was established in Dansville, New York on 22 August 1881. It was only about two weeks later that the great fire would begin in Michigan.

Barton’s major contribution to the Red Cross movement was having the organization take on disaster relief as well as working on the battlefield. Individuals in Michigan were the first ones who were helped by the Red Cross. Today in the United States, there are over 1.2 million volunteers who are at 40,000 disasters a years. Internationally, there are more than nine million ICRC volunteers.

–Steven L. Berg, PhD

Photo Credit: Three symbols used by the ICRC (top). Henry Dunant (middle). Clara Barton (bottom).

Posted on by stevenlberg
Categories: American History: Nineteenth Century, World History: Early Modern
Tags: , , , , , ,

4 Responses

  1. The Rev. David Grant Smith says:
    8 September 2012 at 3:28 pm

    I would be interested in knowing the significance of the Red Diamond. I know the cross and crescent are representative of Christian and Muslim compassion, but the diamond is new to me.

    Reply
  2. davidcollins says:
    11 September 2012 at 1:26 am

    David Collins
    I think that the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies not only provide aid to those that need it, but also a source of hope and pride to nations all over the world. It’s an altruistic group of people with the collective ideal that we can make a difference and ask for nothing in return. Much like we see in superhero’s, people recognizing that they have the ability to help others and, accept that because of this, they have a responsibility to do so. This article is just one example of their benevolence and how in hard times we can come together for the sole purpose to help another living thing.David Foster Wallace defined human’s as having a natural default setting of complete selfishness, that everything in our own immediate experience continues to justify the belief that “I am the absolute center of the Universe, the realist and most vivid person in existence.” People have a fundamental laziness and lack of interaction with their environment, you have people that don’t read newspaper, don’t watch the news, don’t keep up with any current events or even vote and complain about how the government doesn’t represent them and when something bad happens they use that to justify their further lack of participation. The whole point of David Foster Wallace’s speech was that we need to get past this state of self to understand that we view the world this way in order contribute to society and make where we live a better place. The Red Cross is a collection of people that have already figured this out, when someone cuts them off in traffic they don’t see a rude man just getting in their way, they see a man possibly rushing to get his son to the hospital. It’s all about how you look at things. The Red Cross remains an organization that, even in the bad times, we can look to as a model of how we should act and a beacon of hope that someday we’ll all start to dust of the routine of familiarity and move ahead and strive to make tomorrow better than today.

    Reply
  3. aseiler says:
    4 December 2012 at 11:46 pm

    As a registered lifeguard I’m thankful that the Red Cross offers classes that can help people become prepared in emergencies. They also contribute a lot to the people all over the world. They save thousands of lives from their blood drives and disaster relief organizations all over the world. They also help military families that are in need and veterans. It is safe to say that all people can benefit from having the Red Cross around.
    – Amber Seiler

    Reply
  4. Amber Seiler says:
    7 December 2012 at 8:43 pm

    When going to the Red Cross website they tell you what they do as a group./www.redcross.org/what-we-do. Each year the help in over 70,000 disasters both in this country and others.They work with the help military families when needed. They offer classes in which I have taken a few.The also have blood drives in which they are probably the well know for.

    Reply

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