Clara Barton and Responsibility: Heroes & Villains
How does an individual’s responsibility to their fellow citizens affect the health of a civil society? Explore the story of Clara Barton in this video feature of BRI's Heroes and Villains Curriculum to help determine how she exhibited the virtue of responsibility.
Heroes and Villains uses narratives to discuss the concepts of civic virtue in all classrooms. Each virtue narrative includes corresponding discussion guides, journal templates, a toolbox with additional activities, and suggestions for further reading on each topic or virtue.
0:07 Responsibility. When citizens fulfill their duty to do what is right for others, the foundations of our society are strengthened. This is the story of Clara Barton, a humanitarian who dedicated her life to improving the lives of others and the common good. As a young woman, Barton became a teacher and took on the responsibility of opening
0:30 and running one of the first free public schools in New Jersey. However, Barton would later quit when she found out that the school had hired a male teacher at twice her pay. Aiming to start over, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she found work in the patent office. Yet it was the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War that would send her on a different path in the service of others.
0:54 As the fighting raged, Barton raised money for supplies and provided nursing care to Union soldiers, as well as injured Confederate prisoners, earning the nickname Angel of the Battlefield. After the war, she opened a missing soldiers office where she helped reconnect soldiers with their families and identify men buried in unmarked graves on the battlefield.
1:15 And in 1869, on a trip to Switzerland, Barton learned about the Red Cross, a humanitarian group that provided medical aid to combatants on all sides during times of war. She brought that sense of purpose back home, where she founded the American Red Cross and successfully lobbied Congress to ratify the Geneva Conventions,
1:36 a series of international agreements designed to protect the sick and injured during war. As a result of her hard work. The American Red Cross has since helped millions through training, disaster relief and other essential services. Barton demonstrated how a citizen is able to make a difference. In a constitutional republic.
1:56 It takes responsibility to care for those in need during times of extreme adversity and suffering. Ensuring that every citizen can flourish. How can you exercise responsibility in the service of others?
