Dorothea Dix Research Paper

Biography of Dorothea Dix
By Samuel L. Sexton #30 B.C. Dorothea Lynde Dix was born in 1802 and died in 1887. She was an author, teacher, and reformer. She worked with prisoners and the mentally ill people. Because of this she helped make dozens of new institutions in the United States and in Europe and also helped change peoples’ view of these people. Dorothea Dix was born in Hampden, Maine, in 1802. Her father’s name was Joseph who was an itinerant Methodist preacher. He was often away from home causing Dorothea dix’s mother to suffer from bursts of depression. Dorothea Dix was the oldest of three children. Although very young, Dix ran her household and cared for her family. Her father was strict and volatile and was addicted to alcohol and was very depressed. Although all of these factors were in play, her father still taught her how to read and write which fueled her love of books and learning. Her early life was very difficult, unpredictable, and lonely. At the
Months later Dix returned home with a sudden interest to find new approaches to treat the mentally ill or insane person. She then pursued a job of teaching inmates in an East Cambridge prison. The conditions in the prison where so horrible and the treatment so inhuman, she began to demand at once for improvement of the prison. Prisons at the time were not supervised or sanitary. Prisons also had violent criminals housed side by side with the mentally ill. Inmates were often brutally beat by their jailers. Dorothea Dix visited as many public and private facilities as she could, recording the conditions of each one with pure honesty. After gathering all this information, she then presented her studies to the legislature of Massachusetts, demanding a change to the prisons. Her studies shocked her audience and created a movement to improve conditions for the imprisoned and