DOROTHEA DIX SARAH JOHNSON MR. NOEL COLLEGE HISTORY

GROWING UP Born April 4, 1802 In Hampden, Maine Father: Joseph Dix Mother: Mary Dix She had two younger brothers as well.

CONT’D She did not have a good home life. She was abused and had to raise herself. Moved to Massachusetts with Grandma Grandma passed away, and Dorothea inherited all of her money.

CAREER She volunteered to teach Sunday School at East Cambridge jail. Saw nasty things like: prostitutes, drunks, criminals, retarded individuals, and the mentally ill were all housed together in unheated, unfurnished, and foul- smelling quarters.

CAREER CONT’D Dorothea then decided that she wanted to help and change the environments of the jails. She went to the Congress many times, and eventually won. This is when she started to help everyone in the jail.

TRAVELING Dorothea started by going to different jails around Boston, Massachusetts. She eventually expanded and went to every jail in Massachusetts. Dix accomplished to cover every state on the east side of the Mississippi River

CHANGING THE WAYS Dorothea Dix helped create and build thirty two mental hospitals, fifteen schools for the feeble minded, a school for the blind, and numerous training facilities for nurses She was also the inspiration in building a mental institution hospital Dix also contributed in establishing libraries as well

UNITED STATES CONGRESS Dorothea decided to send a bill to the United States Congress to set aside acres of land for the mentally ill. Both of the houses passed the bill President Franklin Pierce vetoed the bill

HOSPITALS The first built and opened hospital that Dorothea did was in Trenton, New Jersey. There was a hospital built for the mentally ill in Washington D.C. named St. Elizabeth’s.

HOSPITALS CONT’D Dorothea was campaigning to establish humane asylums for the mentally ill and founding or adding additions to hospitals in Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina.

DOROTHEA’S LAST FEW YEARS Dorothea never had the best health. She suffered from Malaria. Even through her sickness, she still traveled as much as she could.

CONT’D She eventually got so sick she could not keep traveling. She admitted herself into an apartment in the hospital she built in New Jersey. As she laid in bed she continued to write letters to keep helping the mentally ill.

CONT’D She stayed in the hospital for a total of six years. Dorothea passed away in the hospital on July 17, She was 85 years old.

BIBLIOGRAPHY A Social Reformer. Bumb, Jenn., Women's Intellectual Contributions to the Study of Mind and Society. Burns, Matthew., Officials get permission to close Dix hospital., Casarez, Tana Brumfield., Dorothea Lynde Dix., (May 2000) "Dorothea Lynde Dix," The Biography Channel website, (accessed Nov 24, 2013) Malburne, Meredith. Dorothea Dix's Advocacy for the Mentally Ill in North Carolina. North Carolina Highway Historical Marker. Parry, Manon S., Am J Public Health., (2009) Simons, John. Dix, Dorothea. Sprague, Sharon., Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center., (2010) Viney Wayne., Unitarian Universalist History and Heritage Society (UUHHS)., ( ). Witteman, Barbara. Dorothea Dix: Social Reformer (Let Freedom Ring). Freedom/dp/ Xhttp:// Freedom/dp/ X Wood, Andrew G. "Dix, Dorothea Lynde"; ; American National Biography Online Feb