Dorothea Dix
Reformer of the 1800s
Who was Dorothea Dix?
Quotes
“We are never happy until we learn to laugh at ourselves.”
“There isn't a single human being who hasn't plenty to cry over, and the trick is to make the laughs outweigh the tears.”
-Dorothea Dix
Why is she important?
Pictures
Hospital named after the reformer
A hospital Dorthea created
How mentally ill were treated before Dorthea's reform
Dorothea's impact is still remembered today. Without her mental hospitals my not exist.
Interesting Facts
- Her father was abusive and an alcoholic
- Her mother had bad mental health so Dorothea took care of younger siblings
- She opened "a little dame school" at the age of fifteen. She ran and taught at this school for three years.
- She founded 32 mental hospitals, 15 schools, 1 school for blind.
Timeline of Life
1802- Born at Hampden, Maine
1819- Attended secondary school in Dorchester.
1821- Opened elementary day school in grandmother's home.
1825- Published Conversations on Common Things.
1830- Served as governess for children of William Ellery Channing at St. Croix, Virgin Islands.
1831- Opened secondary school in her home.
1841- Taught Sunday School lesson to prisoners in East Cambridge House of Correction; appalled by misery of insane there.
1842- Toured Massachusetts, inspecting conditions of the insane in almshouses and jails.
1843- Released memorial to the state legislature on the conditions of the insane.
1844- Exposed maltreatment of the insane in Rhode Island.
1861- Volunteered services to the War Department & appointed Superintendent of Army nurses.
1881- Made her last tour of the South, inspecting hospitals in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida and accepted apartment in the Trenton State Hospital.
1887- Died in her founded hospital in Trenton.