Since 1881, American Red Cross members and volunteers have been an essential part of our nation’s response to war, natural disaster and other human suffering. We’ve witnessed great tragedy, but we’ve also seen triumph as people work together to help rebuild lives and communities. Through the timeline below, you can explore some of those key events in Red Cross history.
Clara Barton leads the American Red Cross through its founding and first two decades of service, including the first domestic disaster response, U.S. Senate ratifying the Geneva Convention, and our first international relief efforts.
December 25, 1821: Clara Barton is born in New Oxford, Mass.
May 21, 1881: Clara Barton and associates establish the American Red Cross.
September 4, 1881: Red Cross undertakes its first disaster relief effort aiding victims of Michigan forest fires.
February 15, 1896: Clara Barton and associates arrive in Constantinople to begin five-month campaign bringing relief to Armenian victims of Turkish oppression.
June 20, 1898: Clara Barton sails to Havana, Cuba, with supplies for victims of Spanish-American War. First American Red Cross war-related assistance to U.S. military.
The Red Cross expands beyond military support and disaster relief, working to enhance community resilience and help people prepare for emergencies, including our first Federal Charter, Two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, our first civilian blood collection program, and the launch of training in first aid, water safety and other skills.
April 18, 1906: Earthquake and fire ravage San Francisco; President Theodore Roosevelt calls on the Red Cross to lead a major relief effort.
April 12, 1912: Clara Barton dies at age 90 in her home in Glen Echo, Md., eight years after her resignation from the Red Cross.
April 14, 1912: Red Cross comes to aid of those who survived the sinking of the Titanic.
February 1, 1914: Commodore Wilbert E. Longfellow, known as the "Amiable Whale," begins Red Cross Water Safety program.
May 10, 1917: President Woodrow Wilson appoints a War Council to guide operations of the Red Cross during World War I.
June 2, 1917: Red Cross Commission to Europe sets sail to alleviate wartime suffering.
September 15, 1917: President Woodrow Wilson calls on youth to join the newly formed Junior Red Cross.
April 21, 1927: After weeks of heavy rainfall, a major levee breaks along the Mississippi River beginning a flood that would cover 27,000 square miles. Red Cross spends months aiding the victims.
February 4, 1941: Red Cross begins National Blood Donor Service to collect blood for the U.S. military with Dr. Charles R. Drew, formerly of the Plasma for Britain program, as medical director.
December 7, 1941: Moments after attack on Pearl Harbor, Red Cross volunteers go into action.
January 12, 1948: Red Cross begins its National Blood Program for civilians by opening its first collection center in Rochester, NY. By the end of 1949, we will open 31 American Red Cross Regional Blood Centers.
August 5, 1953: Red Cross aids Operation Big Switch exchange of POWs at end of Korea War hostilities.
December 5, 1962: Red Cross begins collecting medicines and food for Cuba in exchange for release of Bay of Pigs POWs.
August 17, 1969: Red Cross aids those affected by Hurricane Camille.
October 17, 1989: Red Cross aids 14,000 families affected by the Loma Prieta earthquake in Northern California.
August 7, 1990: Five days after the launch of Operation Desert Shield/Storm, American Red Cross workers arrive in the Persian Gulf region. Over the next year, 158 Red Cross staffers will live and work with the troops. Seven will receive the Bronze Star for meritorious service.
September 24, 1990: Red Cross Holocaust and War Victims Tracing & Information Center opens in Baltimore, Md.
August 3, 1992: First National Testing Laboratory, applying standardized tests to ensure the safety of Red Cross blood products, opens in Dedham, MA. This includes testing of donor blood for HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies (anti-HIV-1 and anti-HIV-2).
August 1, 1993: Record crest of Mississippi River occurs at St. Louis in worst Midwest flooding to date. More than 14,500 people take refuge at 148 Red Cross shelters in 10 states.
November 16, 1998: Red Cross opens an Armed Forces Emergency Services (AFES) Center with hi-tech emergency communications service for military.
Approaching its 140th year of service, the Red Cross continues to bring hope to people in their time of need, including domestic disaster responses including the September 11 terrorist attack, ongoing support for America’s military families, and our international campaign to combat measles.
September 11, 2001: Red Cross responds to terrorist attacks in New York, at the Pentagon and outside the town of Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania.
December 25, 2001: Red Cross staff members begin serving U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Additional staff will operate from bases in Balad, Baghdad, Tikrit and Kuwait throughout the war in Iraq.
February 7, 2002: Red Cross joins other groups to launch Measles Initiative, five-year plan to eradicate the disease in sub-Saharan Africa by immunizing children.
August 25 - 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina becomes one of the most destructive storms in the history of the Gulf Coast, killing nearly 2,000 and leaving millions homeless. Red Cross mobilizes its largest, single disaster relief effort to date. Two subsequent hurricanes of significant strength hit, Rita and Wilma, compounding the devastation and impacting relief operations.
May 1, 2006: The American Red Cross commemorates 125 years of service both national and international.
May 31, 2012: The Red Cross launches our first smartphone app. Designed to help people learn and practice First Aid in emergency situations, the app will be downloaded more than one million times in the next 18 months.
October 29, 2012: Superstorm Sandy makes landfall in New Jersey. 17,000 Red Cross workers participated in the massive emergency response effort across multiple states.
May 20, 2014: To mark its 100 years of swimming safety education, the Red Cross launched the Centennial Initiative, a national campaign to reduce the drowning rate by 50 percent in 50 cities over three to five years.
September 29, 2014: The Red Cross launches a smartphone app for blood donors; the app will reach one million downloads in April 2017.
October 7, 2014: The Red Cross launches its Home Fire Campaign, a national campaign to reduce deaths and injuries from home fires by as much as 25 percent over five years.
September 13, 2016: The Red Cross launches Hero Care, a smartphone app for military members, veterans and military families.
September 1, 2019: Hurricane Dorian makes landfall in the Bahamas as a Category 5 hurricane, taking lives and displacing tens of thousands. The Red Cross provides $16.6 million in assistance and working with partner organizations supply nearly 575,000 meals to people across the islands.
March 2020: Food and Drug Administration, Red Cross and industry partners establish a process to safely collect convalescent plasma from recovered COVID-19 individuals for treatment of serious COVID-19 infections.
July 24– December 12, 2020: Dozens of wildfires rage simultaneously in California, Oregon, and Washington, consuming millions of acres and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate. The Red Cross provides more than 400,000 overnight stays, over 901,000 meals, and 56,500 relief items.