DOROTHEA DIX
Dorothea Dix was born on April 4, 1802 in Maine. At a young age Dix was forced to take the responsibility of taking care of her younger siblings Joseph and Charles. Dix states in one of her quotes the she never knew childhood. Mainly because her parents were unstable so she had to take care of her siblings regularly. Her mother had poor mental health and her father was an abusive alcoholic. Unable to resolve problems with her parents Dix was forced to take refuge at her grandmothers house. Moving to her grandmother's house opened opportunities for her to teach herself how to read and write this made her much more intelligent than other children her age.
Dix slowly progressed throughout the years gaining more knowledge then decided to become school teacher. She was able to complete her dream of becoming a teacher and began to teach at a private school for young ladies in 1816. Her teaching career was lasted for three years afterward she began her second career began when she was thirty-nine years old working for the East Cambridge Jail in March of 1841. There she occupied a job requiring her to teach Sunday school class for female inmates. When attending this jail she witnessed horrendous scenes which caused for her life to take a serious transformation. She also observed how prostitutes, drunks, criminals; and the mentally-ill were all incarcerated together in cold, malodorous compartments.
She wasted absolutely no time and immediately informed courts of the inhumane treatment they were giving these people. After some debating and reasoning Dix had accomplished what she had wanted with the court. Her next step forward was to progress and expand to places where she could help out even more. So she began visiting jailhouses and almshouses where the mentally ill were kept. She would carefully take notes on what life for these people was like then proceeded to sending the Massachusetts legislature. This became her job until she was finally able to establish one of her on insane asylums named The Eastern State Hospital where she met Dr. John Galt and developed new treatment options for the mentally ill attending their hospital.
Dix slowly progressed throughout the years gaining more knowledge then decided to become school teacher. She was able to complete her dream of becoming a teacher and began to teach at a private school for young ladies in 1816. Her teaching career was lasted for three years afterward she began her second career began when she was thirty-nine years old working for the East Cambridge Jail in March of 1841. There she occupied a job requiring her to teach Sunday school class for female inmates. When attending this jail she witnessed horrendous scenes which caused for her life to take a serious transformation. She also observed how prostitutes, drunks, criminals; and the mentally-ill were all incarcerated together in cold, malodorous compartments.
She wasted absolutely no time and immediately informed courts of the inhumane treatment they were giving these people. After some debating and reasoning Dix had accomplished what she had wanted with the court. Her next step forward was to progress and expand to places where she could help out even more. So she began visiting jailhouses and almshouses where the mentally ill were kept. She would carefully take notes on what life for these people was like then proceeded to sending the Massachusetts legislature. This became her job until she was finally able to establish one of her on insane asylums named The Eastern State Hospital where she met Dr. John Galt and developed new treatment options for the mentally ill attending their hospital.