1. Dorothea Dix
By Samantha Gustafson

2. Family Born on April 4th 1802 to a poor family from Hampden, Maine
Full name: Dorothea Lynde Dix (never married, no kids)
Father – Joseph Dix
Mother – Mary Bigelow Dix
Two younger brothers Charles and Joseph

3. Father Joseph William Dix Came from a rich family
Born: March 26th 1778
Died: April 21st 1821
Methodist preacher
Moved a lot and constantly poor
Prone to alcoholism and depression
Abusive alcoholic (fathers death)
Taught Dorothea to read and write
Came from a rich family
Got terminated from Harvard University
Unmotivated, irresponsible, and rebellious
Family disapproved his marriage to Mary
Worked at a book store to get away from family after marriage

4. Mother Mary Bigelow Dix Born: July 15th 1779 Died: May, 1837
Suffered bouts of depression
Chorea or Epilepsy
Believed to have been an alcoholic as well.
Came from a poor family

5. Brothers Charles Wesley Dix Joseph Dix Jr. Born: October, 1812
Went to work at sea
Died in 1837of fever aboard a merchant vessel off the coast of Africa.
Never married
Born: January, 1815
Died: 1878
Prosperous merchant
Owned a dry goods store in Boston
Married (Sara), 1 daughter (Eva Clara Dix)

6. Grandmother Dorothy Lynde Dix (Madam Dix) Mother of Joseph Dix
Born: May 23rd, 1746
Died: April 29th, Influenza
Mother of Joseph Dix
Wealthy
Not well educated, emotionless, intense, unsympathetic, and believed to be emotionally abusive
Picked on Dorothea’s insecurities
Resented Dorothea for Pursuing careers rather than remaining at home to fulfill her “duties.”

7. Childhood
Never got the affection and love she desired from her parents
Parents were high-strung and focused on their own problems
Parents believed in harsh punishment starting at 1 year old
Methodist Discipline – Children are to be seen, not heard (Crying, disobeying, begging)
Dorothea suffered physical and emotional abuse as a child
The abuse lead to a lot of built up anger Dorothea used to separate herself from her parents (Clamed to be an orphan)

8. Childhood
Ran away from her home at the age of 12 to live with her grandmother in Boston
Was able to enroll in several years of education
Given many chores and responsibilities
One of her best childhood memories was when she got to make a shirt while being supervised closely by her grandmother
Spent a lot of her adolescence bouncing between her grandmother’s house and her Aunt Sara Fiske’s house who also helped to care for her brothers.
Desired to become independent and strong due to her heightened sense of ambition
Wished to raise her brothers so she could love and teach them properly
Drove her into becoming a teacher

9. Teaching
Opened a school for children in Worcester, Massachusetts in
She was 14 years old at the time of opening, 17 at time of closure
Ran the school from a room in one of her uncle’s buildings (few benches, chairs, and cots).
She would wear very long skirts and sleeves so she appeared to be more adultlike and respectable
Ran the school with stern authority
The school granted her the independence she was craving

10. Teaching
In 1821 Dorothea open an elementary school out of the Dix Mansion where she lived with her grandmother.
Covered grammar, reading, arithmetic, manners, and religious versus/scriptures
Received students from prominent family's all over Boston and surrounding areas
Later opened another school within Dix Mansion that catered to poor students
Suffered from many illnesses along with depression but still taught classes
In her free time she published her first book “Conversations on Common Things” (1825)
Book sold successfully
Closed schools in 1830

11. Teaching Opened an all girls school in the Dix Mansion in 1831
Accepted boarding students, upper class students, and poor students
Offered free lessons to poor students as well
Covered character building, religion, morals, natural history, French, astronomy, and mineralogy
Started to become known as a reformer
Dorothea was greatly respected by her students and genuinely cared for her students well being.
Closed in 1837 due to Dorothea reoccurring bad health and traveled to Europe
Rathbones

12. Prisons
Got offered to teach Sunday school to women at the East Cambridge House of Correction on March 28th, 1841.
Several women suffered from mental illnesses and were kept with prison population
Conditions were awful; no heat, little ventilation, and terrible hygiene
Court ordered the jail to provide heat to inmates along with the basic necessities
This was where her passion to help the mentally ill all started
She was able to get a promise from the court that the women would be given warm rooms

13. Institutions
1839 Dorothea visited a hospital for the mentally ill in south Boston
Replaced the Boston Lunatic Hospital
1 out of ever 6 regained their sanity
Housed poor and wealthy people that were considered incurable
Patients read, played games, gardened, and could move around the grounds freely, housed in apartment like dwellings, and everyone ate together.
Patients demeanor was considered healthy, happy, and content
Dorothea planned to base her ideas off this hospital

14. Campaign
From 1841 through 1845 Dorothea traveled to many prisons and documented the treatment of mentally ill in prisons
Began to seek out support from legislators through letters (Charles Dickens)
She proposed the creation of mental asylums to house people suffering from mental illnesses
The asylums would allow the proper care and services to be provided to the mentally ill
Eventually an expansion to a state mental hospital in Worchester was granted in 1843

15. Land Bill Dorothea’s first congressional petition
Printed on June, 17th 1848
10 million acres of land for mentally ill, blind, and deaf
Due to Dorothea the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate passed the bill requesting land be provided to build institutions for the mentally ill in 1851 (shortly tabled).
Bill ended up being vetoed by president Franklin Pierce in 1854 (states would demand federal aid)
Dorothea then went state by state getting land or expansions granted to build proper institutions for the mentally

16. Institutions
While Dorothea was traveling state by state getting land or expansions granted to build proper institutions for the mentally ill
Senator John Adams Dix (New York) and Horace Mann (House of Representatives)
Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Maryland, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina
Dorothea also went to Europe and got the pope to construct a new hospital
1852 Dorothea helped the U.S. senate generate $100,000 for an establishment of an institution for the district of Colombia and U.S. Army and Navy

17. Institutions
Between she worked on reforming legislation in Canada with Hugh Bell (mayor of Halifax)
She visited many prisons in 1843, 1844, 1848, and 1849 and found in similar conditions as ones in the U.S.
Unfortunately the bills failed (Not a social problem)
They were able to get legislation to grant 5,000 pounds to fund a facility for the mentally ill in 1853
In 1856 she also helped gain funding for the Government Hospital for the Insane in Washington D.C.
Later renamed Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital
Due to constructional issues it wasn’t finished till 1874

18. Civil War
When the civil war started in 1861 Dorothea volunteered to be a nurse within one week (Washington)
Mental hospitals were considered mental hospitals for wounded soldiers
Two months in she was promoted to Superintendent of Union Army Nurses but was
Chose to work independently and confidently did not get along well with others
Rented a town house as a clearing station for nurses (certified nurses)
Dorothea finished her work as a nurse at the end of the war in 1866 (64 years old)

19. Post-war activity
She wanted to build her relationships with the super intendants of her institutions
Wrote letters day and night
In 1866 Dorothea raised $8,000 to build a monument to the Union dead
For the 6,000 American soldiers who died (memorialize self-sacrifice)

20. Due to the many illnesses Dorothea suffered from she died in 1887.
She lived her last years in Morris Plains state hospital in New Jersey. Which was established in honor of all the reforming she has done throughout her life.
Due to Dorothea’s efforts 32 institutions were built all over the united states

21. Discussion
Do you think that Dorothea would have had a more or less difficult time achieving all her accomplishments if she was a man?
How big of an impact do you think her childhood had who she was as an adult?
A lot of the mentally ill are still being put in prisons today, how do you think Dorothea would react to this?

22. Sources https://www.biography.com/people/dorothea-dix-9275710 e
Voice For the Mad: The Life of Dorothea Dix – David Gollaher
Life of Dorothea Lynde Dix – Francis Tiffany
The Lady and the President – Charles M. Snyder