American Red Cross Saving Lives in New Ways

Red cross with black and red text on white background.

Founded by Clara Barton and a group of her acquaintances in Washington, D.C. in 1881.  The American Red Cross is dedicated to helping people in need throughout the United States and, in association with other Red Cross networks, throughout the world. The organization accepts contributions of time, blood, and money to support lifesaving services and programs. The organization is best known since the 2000s for its work helping communities deal with major disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and wildfires.

Jerome Heartwell "Brud" Holland was an American university president and diplomat. He was the first African American to chair the American Red Cross Board of Governors, which named its Laboratory for the Biomedical Sciences in his honor. Holland was on the American Red Cross board of directors from 1964-70, and in 1977 he returned to the board, becoming its first African American chairman in 1979. He was a tireless advocate for blood research at the ARC, consolidating its biomedical research into a single facility that today is known as the Jerome H. Holland Laboratory for the Biomedical Sciences, in Rockville, Maryland. Dr. Holland died in 1985. After his death, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan.