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Dorothea Dix. Participation: Mariana Blaceri & Jackie Mena. Early Life :-). Dorothea Lynne Dix was born April 4, 1802 to Joseph Dix and Mary Bigelow Dix. Mother was not in a healthy mental state, and the father was an abusive alcoholic.
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Dorothea Dix Participation: Mariana Blaceri & Jackie Mena
Early Life :-) • Dorothea Lynne Dix was born April 4, 1802 to Joseph Dix and Mary Bigelow Dix. • Mother was not in a healthy mental state, and the father was an abusive alcoholic. • Harsh conditions led her to care for 3 young brothers and later states “I never knew childhood.
Early Career • At age 15 she was faced with her first class of 20 students between the of 6-8. • By the time she was 20 she began to teach two classes.
Secondary Career • At the age of 39, Dix volunteered to teach Sunday School to women inmates at The East Cambridge Jail. • While teaching at the jail, Dix became aware of the harsh living conditions pertaining to especially to the mentally ill. • Seeing this helped her take matters into her own hands and change how the mentally ill were treated not only in MA, but in the newley growing America.
Reforming Massachusetts • After witnessing the conditions, she immediately took the information to her local court and won. • She then visited many jailhouses around Massachusetts to ensure the mentally ill were housed separately from the jailhouses. • Later every jailhouse in MA was investigated to relocate the mentally ill from the jailhouses.
Reforming America • Once MA was fully investigated, Dix managed to travel along the east side of the Mississippi River. • She established 32 mental hospitals, 15 school for the feeble-minded, a house for the blind, and many training facilities for nurses.
Reforming Europe • After being denied 5 million acres of land to be set aside by the government to aid the mentally ill, she grew tired and decided to travel. • She traveled to England, Scotland, France, Austria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Germany. • Whilst there she inspected many jailhouses and almshouses and successfully reformed the way the mentally ill were treated.
Reforming America. • In 1854, she returned from her crusade and continued to reform the jailhouses in the states she had missed before. • The state of New Jersey to notice in Dix and decided to build a mental hospital through her efforts.
America Reformed • Today, Dorothea Dix is described as "the most effective advocate of humanitarian reform in American mental institutions during the nineteenth century”. • Due to her efforts, America now has mental facilities available for anyone in need. • All public schools today have aides to help students with special needs.
Dorothea Dix • Dorothea Dix died July 17, 1887. • Although Dix has died her achievements have not.
English The painting pertains to Dorothea’s beliefs that any person with a mental illness should be treated fairly. Art by Mary Cassatt
Bibliography • http://www.artcyclopedia.com/subjects/ • http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/dorotheadix.html • http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/dorotheadix.html