The Encounter With Dorothea Dix: Women's Rights

The Encounter with Dorothea Dix
Women's Rights

Maddie Wiedenfeld
Senior Division
Historical Paper
“I come to present the strong claims of suffering humanity. I come to place before the Legislature of Massachusetts the condition of the miserable, the desolate, the outcast. I come as the advocate of helpless, forgotten, insane men and women; of beings sunk to a condition from which the unconcerned world would start with real horror.”

As women, there will always be some disadvantages to men. Although these disadvantages will always be there we are more than blessed to have some things that women back in the 1800s did not. Some things include, jobs, political power, educational opportunities, property ownership, and much more.

With the Civil War starting in 1861, Dix became the superintendent of the nurses. She was named the superintendent because of her hardwork and dedication to her people. With her position she was responsible for building first-aid stations, field hospitals, managing supplies, recruiting nurses, and training the new nurses. After the war her main focus was still the mentally ill and she was still traveling around the country helping to renovate and make the hospitals more efficient. Dix was diagnosed with malaria in 1870, she continued to write but eventually was put into the Trenton hospital, a hospital she founded forty years earlier. “I think even lying on my bed I can still do something.” This quote was recorded when she was at Trenton Hospital. This quote is showing how dedicated she was to her work and how she was always wanting to contribute to the people in need. At the age of 85, Dix was declared dead on July 17, 1887. During the Civil War, and the time period nearing the end of her life, the encounter with her would be a positive encounter. During this long period of time she was very determined to get things done and she would have influenced more people to make a change and want to help everyone in the

She first discovered how horrendously the prisons were treating the prisoners and immediately took off for court and guaranteed heat and other improvements for the prisoners. Dix also tried to grant more than 12 million acres of land to be used for the benefit of the mentally ill. If a person were to encounter Dorothea Dix in the 1800s it would be either a negative or a positive encounter, this is said because if a male was talking to her it would be more of a negative encounter than if a female were to be talking to her. In the end, Dix's career lasted for forty years and legislatures in fourteen states passed bills for the humane treatment of the mentally ill. Her work affected the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Maryland. Dorothea also ordered the legislatures in these states to create hospitals for the mentally ill. Her efforts did not go unnoticed, thirty-two hospitals were built as a