Women with the American Red Cross in WWII

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by Annie Somers1 view·Updated Mar 24, 2022
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  1. Okay,
  2. Hello,
  3. I'm anne Summers and today I'm going to be talking about women enlisting
  4. with the american red cross in World War One on the right,
  5. you can see a picture of one of the nurses who
  6. was registered serving some of the men food and drinks.
  7. Um, for this presentation, we're going to be going over some context,
  8. particularly with how women um were brought into
  9. the war and how the propaganda used to get
  10. them to register under the american Red Cross differed
  11. from men and which different groups were excluded,
  12. such as women of color.
  13. Um,
  14. will be further analyzing some of that propaganda and also talking about some of
  15. the lasting impacts of their involvement in the war through the american Red Cross.
  16. For some context. Um, this photo appear on the right is from the American Red Cross.
  17. The women in their uniforms were called the Gray Lady's.
  18. The American Red Cross was founded in 1881 in Washington, D. C. by Claire Barton.
  19. There are 1.5 million American women who adopted occupations in World War I.
  20. So some of them drove cars and became mechanics, worked in factories,
  21. agricultural trades, etc.
  22. Um,
  23. but those who registered through the american Red Cross um,
  24. worked in field and evacuation hospitals,
  25. on hospital trains and ships and medical transport planes.
  26. Now, a lot of this primarily pertains to white middle class american women
  27. Um,
  28. for women of color up to 1000 African American women attempted to
  29. register for American Red Cross reserves to become nurses and um,
  30. unfortunately many were excluded
  31. and had to end up taking the positions
  32. um, that many middle class white american women had prior to the war.
  33. Um, in regards to men. And the propaganda used to um
  34. cause them to enlist.
  35. Um, you can see here on the right, it says destroy this mad brute enlist in the U. S.
  36. Army. It shows a german soldier depicted as
  37. barbaric and ape. Um, you can see his Bazzaz culture.
  38. Um,
  39. and this message is to motivate um us armament to
  40. enlist and prevent german culture from infiltrating on U.
  41. S. Soil. And it depicts women as feeble and distress and in need of rescue.
  42. Mm hmm.
  43. What we're gonna be looking at next um, shows a big difference in audience. Um,
  44. and how women are portrayed
  45. in this particular example.
  46. You can see that the woman is displayed as capable and strong,
  47. empowering and incentivizing them to uphold the economy at home.
  48. It says do the job he left behind.
  49. So because this particular propaganda is targeted towards women, um,
  50. the way they're portrayed is different.
  51. So,
  52. um, it's also encouraging patriotism.
  53. You can see the american red flag stripes in the background.
  54. Um, but in regards to american red cross, a lot of these similar tactics were used.
  55. You can see the american red flag in the back of this one.
  56. Um,
  57. it they began distributing these posters for graduate nurses beginning in 1914.
  58. Um,
  59. and a lot of them ended up being shipped off to for the nurses
  60. who did register to reserves in France England Germany Austria and Hungary as well.
  61. You can see that she's extending her hand to the audience,
  62. encouraging you to
  63. enlist.
  64. Yeah.
  65. Another example here it says, what can you do join our Red Cross?
  66. You can see uh, smaller details like the hierarchical scaling.
  67. Um, she's towering over the soldier and all the other people.
  68. So she's the main figure, kind of like a
  69. savior of sorts, heroic.
  70. Looking over the wounded soldier and the mother holding her child.
  71. Um, it's prompting these white middle class american women to enlist.
  72. And you can also see the little girl um looking at her in adoration.
  73. This uh, further element of patriotism and heroism.
  74. Um, and it's just continuing to pick the american red Cross woman to register,
  75. um, to act as a glue during the wartime
  76. elements of faith were also um,
  77. ingrained into these different propaganda posters.
  78. You can see um,
  79. this woman here is holding
  80. the wounded soldier. She's resembling Michelangelo's Pieta.
  81. And um, it's just that continued uh, further maternal appeal.
  82. Her nurturing instincts. Um,
  83. further
  84. indicating
  85. indicating the values during this time of Christianity.
  86. Okay,
  87. mm hmm,
  88. mm hmm.
  89. Mhm.
  90. For the lasting impact, we can see how patriotism race,
  91. marital and maternal values and religion were all utilized and
  92. tailored to appeal to the white middle class women to join
  93. the war effort.
  94. Um, this picture on the right here shows
  95. uh, the various women enlisting
  96. um,
  97. in regards to service and shift into the working
  98. world the american red Cross's impact through this,
  99. um,
  100. shows how they were a catalyst for women to be further
  101. integrated into the workforce and other professions that we see today.
  102. And for those interested, here's
  103. where I got the various primary sources and secondary sources.
  104. I used to gather my information
  105. mm hmm.
  106. For the assignment. You are to create your own propaganda poster.
  107. Consider your audience,
  108. which in this instance will be the white
  109. middle class american woman during World War One.
  110. How might she you persuade her to register as an american red Cross nurse,
  111. Please include elements of patriotism, spouse, slush, motherhood values,
  112. faith and heroism.
  113. Your goal, along with symbolic artwork,
  114. is to convey your message and create a tagline to your corresponding message.
  115. Thank you.