Dorothea dix- religion and reform Dorothea Lynde Dix was one of the most important people in the reform movement for many reasons. She was a driving force behind the reform of prisons and asylums across the country. Without Dorothea Dix’s influence, thousands of criminals and mentally ill would be dying and mistreated in these facilities. But who was Dorothea Dix? She was a teacher, author, and an activist, who had a very horrible childhood living with an abusive and alcoholic father. She created the first round of mental asylums in the United States, and during the civil war, she was the superintendent of army nurses. Dorothea lobbied endlessly for changes to be made to prisoner’s treatment and for separate mental hospitals and prisons. …show more content…
She brought those ideas to America and promptly introduced them into society. Dorothea started her introduction of these ideals by investigating care for the insane poor across Massachusetts between 1840-1841. Dorothea was not afraid to speak her mind or to ferret out the truth, which helped make her superbly influential to the reform movement. A scathing report to state legislatures detailed the horrific conditions prisoners and lunatics were subjected to, and this report helped her reputations grow. As a result of her inquisitions into the situations of these poor people, legislations was passed in Worcester to help. This was the start of something great for the country. After this first act, dorothea convinced governments across the states to do something about their prisoners, starting more investigations in new jersey, new hampshire, louisiana, illinois, north carolina, pennsylvania and many, many other places, spreading around reform and helping pass legislation across the