Dorthea Dix
| Dorothea Lynde Dix | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
April 4, 1802 Hampden, Maine, US |
| Died | July 18, 1887 (aged 85) Trenton, New Jersey, US |
| Occupation | Social reformer |
| Parent(s) | Joseph Dix Mary Bigelow |
Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802 – July 18, 1887) was an American activist on behalf of the indigent insane who, through a vigorous program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first generation of American mental asylums. During the Civil War, she served as a Superintendent of Army Nurses.
Born in the town of Hampden, Maine, she grew up first in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was the first child of three born to Joseph Dix and Mary Bigelow, who had deep ancestral roots in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Her father was an itinerant worker as a Methodist preacher. At the age of twelve, she sought refuge with her wealthy grandmother, Dorothea Lynde (wife of Dr Elijah Dix) in Boston to get away from her alcoholic parents and abusive father. About 1821 Dix opened a school in Boston, which was patronized by well-to-do families. Soon afterward she also began teaching poor and neglected children at home, but she suffered poor health. From 1824 to 1830, she wrote mainly devotional books and stories for children. Her Conversations on Common Things (1824) reached its sixtieth edition by 1869. Her book The Garland of Flora (1829) was, along with Elizabeth Wirt's Flora's Dictionary, one of the first two dictionaries of flowers published in the United States.
In 1831, she established a model school for girls in Boston, operating it until 1836, when she had another health breakdown. Dix was encouraged to take a trip to Europe to help aid her health by her physician. When she was there she met the other reformers who inspired her to start working on equal rights for the mentally ill. These reformers were Elizabeth Fry, Samuel Tuke and William Rathbone whom which she lived with during the duration of her trip to Europe. In hopes of a cure, in 1836 she traveled to England, where she met the Rathbone family. They invited her as a guest to Greenbank, their ancestral mansion in Liverpool. The Rathbones were Quakers and prominent social reformers. At Greenbank, Dix met their circle of men and women who believed that government should play a direct, active role in social welfare. She was also introduced to the reform movement for care of the mentally ill in Great Britain, known as lunacy reform. Its members were making deep investigations of madhouses and asylums, publishing their studies in reports to the House of Commons.
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