Historedia
Episode 1 of 2

First Official Meeting in Washington

When
May 21, 1881
Where
Barton's apartment
Part of
The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton

Barton held the first official meeting of the American Red Cross at her apartment in Washington, D.C., on May 21, 1881.

The event marked the formal inception of the American branch of the Red Cross. Barton served as the president during this gathering, which established the organizational framework for future humanitarian operations in the United States.

Sources

  1. Clara Barton Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-07
  2. American Red Cross Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-30

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.