The Post-Barton Years: New Challenges in a New Century

The original scope of programs offered by the organization was expanded beyond disaster relief and assistance to the military. African Americans continued their commitment to the American Red Cross and contributed to newly created programs such as nursing, formally established in May l909 and led by Jane Delano, former superintendent of the Army Nurse Corps.

Frances Elliott Davis (1877-1965) In l9l5, Frances Elliott Davis, a professional nurse at Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C., applied for American Red Cross service. Undeterred by initial rejection, Davis persisted and in l9l7 became the first African American Red Cross nurse officially approved by the organization. Her nurse's pin was inscribed with "1-A" on the reverse. The "A" designated the wearer as an African American, and this practice continued until 1949. Davis was assigned to the Town and Country Nursing Service, which had been established in 1912 as the American Red Cross Rural Nursing Service.

Frances Elliott Davis (1877-1965)

African American Nurses at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio (1918) Image Courtesy of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology

African American Nurses at Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio (1918) When the United States formally entered the First World War in l9l7, Red Cross nurses were enrolled through the Army Nurse Corps. About 1,800 African American nurses were certified by the American Red Cross for duty with the military, but the Red Cross had no control over their assignments. The first group of African American Red Cross nurses was accepted in l9l8. These nurses did not have the chance to serve overseas. Opportunities for service were greatly expanded when the influenza epidemic began sweeping the United States in September l9l8. The surgeon general of the U.S. Public Health Service called upon the Red Cross, and 15,000 nurses, dieticians, and others were recruited and sent to work in military camps, hospitals, coal fields, munitions plants, and shipyards. By the time the pandemic had subsided in the spring of l9l9, more than 540,000 people had died.

Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) Henry Ossawa Tanner was the foremost African American artist of his generation. In l879, at the age of 20, he became one of the first African American students at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts to study under Thomas Eakins. In l891 he moved to France, the center of the art world, to expand his training. There, his career flourished, and he was inspired by the work of other talented African American artists, poets, and writers who had formed a vibrant expatriate community. He remained in France for the rest of his life and returned to the United States only for brief visits.

Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) Image Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution

American Red Cross Canteen at the Front (1918) by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) American Red Cross Museum Collection

American Red Cross Canteen at the Front (1918) by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) Henry Ossawa Tanner worked for the American Red Cross Department of Public Information in France during the First World War, from December l9l7 to June l9l9. In September l9l8, Tanner was granted permission to sketch in the Military Advance Zone. His permit specifically limited him to depicting Red Cross activities, and all of his work was subject to the prevailing wartime censorship. He completed three oil paintings showing canteen scenes. Canteens, which offered rest and refreshment to weary soldiers, were a staple of American Red Cross service overseas during World War I. Tanner's depiction of African American soldiers is virtually unique among his contemporaries. In this painting, the artist crowded several figures into a shallow interior space and suggested even more figures beyond the doorway. It is through the light in the background that we notice the African American soldier.