Clara+Barton+-+a+19th+century+hero+by+tayzo

My Hero: Clara Barton

__My Definition of a hero__ A hero to me has done an act of kindness out of the goodness of their heart. They did this without being told or paid. This act has helped someone or something in a positive way.

1)intro 2)Put hero's life into perspective--when did they live, where, who were they trying to help, why, how, why was this important? 3)What makes your person a hero--you must prove that your person meets the criteria of your own personal definition(this is the meat of your wiki page and your submission to the My Hero website-your looking at a good four paragraphs here--focus on that spark, that moment the person decided to be heroic or do heroic acts 4)What is the person's legacy? (what are they known for. impact. left behind.) 5)What advice would they have for todays youth?

Hero. What does that mean to you ? Do you feel they are needed? To me you have to have produced an act of kindness out of the goodness of your heart. This act was done without being told or paid. The act has to have helped someone or something in a positive way. Heroes, to me, are needed. They make our world a safer and better place. One organization is a hero all the time. Have you ever heard of the American Red Cross? Well my hero was the founder. Clara Barton was born on December 25, 1821 in Oxford Massachusetts. She helped all the wounded soldiers during the civil war for no money in return. She just wanted to help anyone she could and the soliders were in desperate need of help. She gave them all the attention they needed. When a solider was wounded they would come to her because they knew she would do something to help. All this attention and help was very important because if she wasn't a "war nurse", they would just be left to die.
 * Intro: (1) **
 * Life: (2) **

Her first heroic act started when she was only 17 years old. She became a teacher at a school in Massachusetts and six years later, she founded her own school. After she studied languages and writing at an institute in New York, she opened a school in New Jersey. Anyone who went there didn’t have to pay anything; it was a free school. This was very helpful to anyone who wanted to learn, but didn't have the money to. The number of people who went there grew rapidly and they needed someone to be the head of the school. Clara Barton would be the obvious choice but they hired a man instead. This was when Clara knew she had to do something to make women's rights equal.
 * Makes her Hero: (3) (4) (5) (6) **

Her second act was when she gave herself to help the soldiers. She didn't even accept the money the government was offering her. This was the first time women were able to work in camps/battlefronts or hospitals. At first they weren't going to accept her help, but she gained their trust. She got supplies for the wounded from all over the country and was soon known as the "Angel of the Battlefield." In 1864 she officially became known as the Superintendent of Union Nurses. All of her practice was on the battlefields witnessing the horrors of war.

Barton was working so hard and so much that her doctor ordered her to take a trip to Europe to rest. In 1869 she learned about the concept of the Red Cross. Twelve nations had already signed the Treaty of Geneva, but she noticed that America hadn't. She didn't understand why because, from what she saw the volunteers do, she loved this idea of helping people. When she got back to the United States she told them how the Red Cross helps with natural disasters and assisting people in any way they can. In 1882, the US ended up signing the Geneva Agreement because they liked the way the Red Cross was helping everyone in need.

Now America was part of the Red Cross and, for twenty two years, Clara Barton was the president. As president she took the Red Cross and adapted it to the needs of the United States. Some of the American Red Cross's work was helping people during the floods of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers in 1882 and 1884 and the yellow fever outbreak in Florida in 1887. The first war they helped in was in 1898, the Spanish-American War. Founding the American Red Cross also helped with gaining women's rights and she spent all her time now fighting for women. She received the International Red Cross Medal and an Iron Cross. Sadly, her last act was in 1904 when she founded the National Aid Society. At the age of 83 she retired as the American Red Cross President. She spent the rest of her life in Glen Echo, Maryland. A few years later she died when she had cold complications.

Clara Barton left a huge legacy behind. She is known for being an extremely generous person and caring about everyone. She was one of the most non-selfish people in the world. She devoted her whole life to helping people. Even when she was supposed to be taking a break, she found out ways to help people. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have the American Red Cross. We wouldn't have things, such as blood drives or food drives, to help those who need them. Also, if it wasn't for her, there would be __a lot__ more people dead. She gave medical attention to those in need and helped out the less fortunate and if she hadn't, they most likely would not have survived.
 * Legacy: (7) **

If Clara Barton was here today I think she would give the youth some helpful advice. She'd probably tell them that whatever you are going through, there is always someone going through worse. Clara would defiantly say to stop and help someone whenever you can. It could be as little as moving your seat on the bus to let an older person sit down, or it could be donating clothes that don't fit you anymore. Any act of kindness will help someone. Also, people these days don't appreciate life as much; stop and smell the roses. Our youth and when she lived are very different, so we should defiantly take this all into consideration. This is most likely what Clara Barton would say to today's youth.
 * Advice for today's youth: (8) **

As you can see, Clara Barton has done many heroic acts. She fits my definition because she just wanted to help people, expecting nothing in return. She devoted herself to help others and I think, just doing that, is being a hero. She did once say, “I have an almost complete disregard of precedent and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things always have been done.... I defy the tyranny of precedent. I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind. I go for anything new that might improve the past. “She was a very talented person and did, indeed change the world.
 * Conclusion: (9) **

Notes: http://www.lkwdpl.org/WIHOHIO/bart-cla.htm (main source) (3) (4) (5) (6)
 * Clara Barton became a teacher in Massachusetts at the age of 17; founded her own school six years later and after ten years of teaching, felt the need to alter her career path.
 * She then pursued writing and languages at the Liberal Institute in Clinton, New York.
 * Following these studies, Barton opened a free school in New Jersey.
 * The attendance under her leadership grew to 600 but instead of hiring Barton to head the school, the board hired a man instead.
 * Frustrated, she moved to Washington D.C. and began work as a clerk in the U.S. Patent Office; this was the first time a woman had received a substantial clerkship in the federal government.
 * With the emergence of the Civil War, Barton refused to take a salary from the government's treasury and dedicated herself aiding soldiers on the front. Never before had women been allowed in hospitals, camps or on battlefields; initially, military and civil officials declined her help.
 * Eventually, she gained the trust of these officials and began receiving supplies from all over the country.
 * As a result of her untiring work, she became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield."
 * Officially, she became the superintendent of Union nurses in 1864 and began obtaining camp and hospital supplies, assistants and military trains for her work on the front.
 * She practiced nursing exclusively on battlefields, experiencing first-hand the horrors of war on sixteen different battlefields.
 * In 1869, she traveled to Europe for rest as directed by her doctor.
 * In Europe she was educated about the concept of the Red Cross as outlined in the Treaty of Geneva and also by observing the Red Cross while traveling with volunteers serving in the Franco-Prussian War.
 * Twelve nations had signed the treaty but the Unites States had not.
 * She returned to the United States; rallied to have the US join in this treaty; and vowed to establish this work in the United States.
 * Barton expanded the original concept of the Red Cross to include assisting in any great national disaster; this service brought the United States the "Good Samaritan of Nations" label.
 * The United States ultimately signed the Geneva Agreement in 1882.
 * Barton was the President of the American National Red Cross for twenty-two years.
 * Under her leadership, she adopted the framework of the Red Cross to fit the needs of the United States not only during wartime but in peacetime.
 * The Red Cross's early work included aiding victims and workers in the floods of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers in 1882 and 1884, the Texas famine of 1886, the Florida yellow fever epidemic in 1887, an earthquake in Illinois in 1888, and the 1889 Johnstown, Pennsylvania disaster/flood. Internationally, countries noticed and recognized the need for such peacetime assistance and in 1884 the Geneva Convention passed the "American Amendment" to include this concept.
 * The first wartime experience for the American Red Cross was in the Spanish-American War in 1898.
 * Barton also was highly dedicated to fighting for and furthering the rights of women; she worked closely with Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone and others
 * Barton herself was the most decorated American woman, receiving the Iron Cross, the Cross of Imperial Russia and the International Red Cross Medal.
 * Her final act was founding the National First Aid Society in 1904.
 * She retired as President of the American Red Cross at the age of 83 and spent her remaining years in Glen Echo, Maryland where she died from complications of a cold.

http://www.civilwarhome.com/bartonbio.htm

Born on December 25. 1821 in Oxford, Mass., the youngest of 5 children in a middle-class family, Barton was educated at home, and at 15 started teaching school. Her most notable antebellum achievement was the establishment of a free public school in Bordentown, N.J. __Though she is remembered as the founder of the American Red Cross, her only prewar medical experience came when for 2 years she nursed an invalid brother.__ In 1861 Barton was living in Washington, D.C., working at the U.S. Patent Office. When the 6th Massachusetts Regiment arrived in the city after the Baltimore Riots, she organized a relief program for the soldiers, beginning a lifetime of philanthropy. When Barton learned that many of the wounded from First Bull Run had suffered, not from want of attention but from need of medical supplies, she advertised for donations in the Worcester, Mass., //Spy// and began an independent organization to distribute goods. The relief operation was successful, and the following year U.S. Surgeon General William A. Hammond granted her a general pass to travel with army ambulances "for the purpose of distributing comforts for the sick and wounded, and nursing them." For 3 years she followed army operations throughout the Virginia theater and in the Charleston, S.C., area. Her work in Fredericksburg, Va., hospitals, caring for the casualties from the Battle of the Wilderness, and nursing work at Bermuda Hundred attracted national notice. At this time she formed her only formal Civil War connection with any organization when she served as superintendent of nurses in Maj. Gen. Benjamin F. Butlers command. She also expanded her concept of soldier aid, traveling to Camp Parole, Md., to organize a program for locating men listed as missing in action. Through interviews with Federals returning from Southern prisons, she was often able to determine the status of some of the missing and notify families. By the end of the war Barton had performed most of the services that would later he associated with the American Red Cross, which she founded in 1881. In 1904 she resigned as head of that organization, retiring to her home at Glen Echo, outside Washington, D.C., where she died 12 Apr. 1912. Source: "Historical Times Encyclopedia of the Civil War" edited by Patricia L. Faust

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/clara_barton.htm

"I have an almost complete disregard of precedent and a faith in the possibility of something better. It irritates me to be told how things always have been done .... I defy the tyranny of precedent. I cannot afford the luxury of a closed mind. I go for anything new that might improve the past. " -clara barton

"Others are writing my biography, and let it rest as they elect to make it. I have lived my life, well and ill, always less well than I wanted it to be but it is, as it is, and as it has been; so small a thing, to have had so much about it! " -clara barton