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7Dorothea Lynde Dix III
“ voice for the mad”
Early Life
Born : April 4, 1802
Oldest of 3 children
Mother – “listless and self absorbed”
Father – book dealer, active Methodist
Childhood Problems/
Accomplishments Constantly moved
Felt neglected and abused
Ran away at age 12, to live with grandmother
“unusually mature” and “intellectually gifted”
Believed strongly in community service
Cont.
At age 14 – opened a private school
Ran free evening school for poor (one of 1st in nation)
Wrote the book : “Conversations on Common things”
Later Career
Practiced “Goodness of God” and “Purity of Heart”
Took over for a minister teaching a Sunday class in a women’s jail
Jail
Shocked to see conditions of jail:
Unheated
All types put together : hardened criminals (including murderers), children, and mentally ill
Prison cell:
Taking Action
Dorothea acquired a court order to provide heat and other improvements for prisoners
Started questioning the conditions in other jails
Cont.
Began an investigation on how the mentally ill were treated
Urged bills and legislatures for building an asylum for them
Hospital opened in her honor, specially for mentally ill patients
Approval
After accomplishing her goal, a letter arrived from Washington, praising her deeds
Books have been written on her
Letter to Dix
Dorothea’s Other Work
Participated in Civil War: led effort to organize
nursery corps for soldiers
Recruited women as nurses of Army Med. Bureau
Superintendant of nurses
Never missed a day of work
Cont.
“Dragon Dix” – clashed with military offi cials
Only allowed middle aged women into the program
Donated a fountain to Boston for “Thirsty Horses”
“The Reformer”
Written by John Greenleaf Whittier
One of many Songs in his book “Songs of Labor and Reform”
Talks about hope in reform
Excerpts:“I looked: aside the dust-cloud rolled,The Waster seemed the Builder too;Upspringing from the ruined OldI saw the New.’T was but the ruin of the bad,— The wasting of the wrong and ill;Whate’er of good the old time hadWas living still.”
“Through prison walls, like Heaven-sent hope,Fresh breezes blew, and sunbeams strayed,And with the idle gallows-ropeThe young child played.Where the doomed victim in his cellHad counted o’er the weary hours,Glad school-girls, answering to the bell,Came crowned with flowers.”
Bibliography:
https://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/dorotheadix.html
http://www.bookrags.com/ebooks/9579/17.html
Google images
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothea_Dix
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