Articles by Steven Gilchrist

M ay 25, 2009, marked the 25th anniversary of National Missing Children’s Day. On May 15, 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed Proclamation 5194, establishing May 25 of each year as National Missing Children’s Day. Since then, each presidential administration has reauthorized the Proclamation. The legislation for the Proclamation originated in the late 1970s. From 1979 to 1981 several missing children cases around the country garnered extensive media attention. The abductions and murders of Etan Patz, Adam Walsh, and 29 children in Atlanta brought much needed attention to missing children cases. May 25, 1979, is the day when 6-year-old Etan Patz went missing from a New York street corner on his way to school. Prior to Proclamation 5194, there was not an organized system in place to search for and locate missing children. In 1984, The U.S. Department of Justice established a $3.3 million dollar grant that created the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC). Tod...

O n May 21, 1881, Clara Barton, assisted by a group of friends, founded the American Association of the Red Cross in Washington, D.C. African Americans have contributed to the success of the organization since its inception in the late 19th century. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was a member of the group of leaders that joined Barton to develop the organization, which today is known as the American Red Cross. In 1917 Frances Elliot Davis was the first African American nurse in the American Red Cross. Dr. Charles R. Drew was the first medical director of the first American Red Cross Blood Bank. Another African American, Jerome Heartwell Holland, made unique contributions to the American Red Cross. Holland was born in Auburn, New York on January 9, 1916. A standout football player at Cornell University, he was named a two-time All-American for his gridiron talents and he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. Holland earned his bachelor’s and maste...

L ast Monday, on Memorial Day, America collectively remembered people who have sacrificed their lives in service to the United States. This day was a reminder of the reality of conflicts and wars of the past and also of the present. 4,900 members of the U.S. military have died in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as of May 26, 2009. It appears that American combat forces will be leaving Iraq by September 2010; however, the war in Afghanistan poses increasing challenges because of the resurgence of the Taliban. Often, it is easy to forget the sacrifices of the soldiers who fight in wars to defend the country’s interests. With the current economic problems, high unemployment, challenges with access to quality healthcare and higher education, there are several issues that captivate one’s attention on the domestic front. By reading newspaper articles about Memorial Day, I was reminded of the effect that the current wars have on soldiers and their families. Whether or not the decision for t...