Date of Award
5-2010
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Degree Program
History
Department
History
Major Professor
Mitchell, Mary N.
Second Advisor
Brown, Nikki
Third Advisor
Dupont, Robert L.
Abstract
Socialite Laura Penrose and a group of wealthy businessmen founded the New Orleans Chapter of the American Red Cross in 1916. The Chapter expanded in 1917 with the addition of two black Auxiliary Branches chartered by nurses Louise Ross and Sarah Brown. Although Jim Crow dictated the division between the Chapter and its Branches within the mostly female organization, racial barriers did not prohibit them from uniting for the cause of national relief. The American Red Cross differed from other forms of biracial Progressivism by the very nature of public relief work for a national charity. American Red Cross relief work brought women into public spaces for the war effort and pushed biracial cooperation between women in the Jim Crow South in a more public and patriotic direction than earlier efforts at social reform. Black women, in particular, used the benefit of relief work to promote racial uplift and stake a claim on American citizenship despite the disenfranchisement of their men.
Recommended Citation
Fortier, Paula A., "Behind the Banner of Patriotism: The New Orleans Chapter of the American Red Cross and Auxiliary Branches 6 and 11 (1914-1917)" (2010). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1168.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1168
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.