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Overview: Life Of Dorothea Lunde Dix By Francis Tiffany

628 Words3 Pages

Anastasia Zientek
Abeka: U.S. History
Oral Book Review
23 Feb. 2023
Life of Dorothea Lunde Dix by Francis Tiffany
Francis Tiffany’s biography of Dorothea L. Dix, Life of Dorothea Lunde Dix, shares the life of a remarkable woman who never gave up advocating for the mentally ill who could not help themselves. Dix was born in Maine in 1812. She had an unhappy childhood, being that her parents were alcoholics, prompting her to leave home and to move in with her grandmother at the age of twelve. After becoming a schoolteacher, in 1821—at the age of nineteen—Dorothea opened a school for young girls in her grandmother’s mansion; in 1831, she also opened a home for underprivileged children. Even though Ms. Dix was an ambitious woman of faith, she suffered from a severe cough and fatigue, causing her depression. …show more content…

When she came to Europe, Dorothea met social reformers Elizabeth Fry and Samuel Tyke. Fry passed a new legislation calling for more humane treatment of mentally ill prisoners, and Tyke founded the York Retreat for the mentally ill. There works inspired Ms. Dix, so she resolved to try to help change the treatment of mentally ill prisoners in the United States. While visiting a jail in East Cambridge, MA, she witnessed the harsh conditions in which the insane female prisoners lived. Because these women struggled with mental illness, just as Dorothea did, some were held in pens and cages while others were starved, beaten, chained to beds, and treated like criminals. This greatly disturbed Ms. Dix, so she started visiting prisons and workhouses in Massachusetts, taking care to document the horrible treatment of the mentally ill. Dorothea presented her findings in a Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts in 1843. The memorial was successful, and this was the first victory in her fight to advocate for the mentally

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