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. …show more content…
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 …show more content…
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
Dorothea Dix developed the reform of prisons and the treatment of people with mental illness. Her attempts led to corrections in state prison systems and the creation of public institutions and hospitals for the mentally ill. Many prisoners were locked in cages and bound in cages, children accused of minor thefts were jailed with adult criminals, Dix was horrified. Dix gathered information about the horrors she had seen for two years. She prepared a detailed report for the Massachusetts state legislature.
1874. In the early 70's other forms of treatment and placement efforts were put in place, so that mentally ill people would be able to have a better quality
Skylar Dishman Mrs. Stout/Dr. Shadden-Cobb ELA/Social Studies 8 May 2017 Dorothea Lynde Dix Dorothea Lynde Dix was a woman who had accomplished much in her life. Not only did her achievements help people with mental illnesses during that time, but also significantly changed the treatment of mentally-ill patients today. Dorothea Dix was born on April 4, 1802 in the hometown of Hampen in Maine. She was the first child of three born to Joseph Dix and Mary Bigelow Dix. Her mother was unhealthy and her father was an abusive alcoholic.
This is when she wrote most of her books, staying up late to do so. Dix started the Asylum Movement, a reformation that led to the mentally ill and prisoners being given humane conditions to live in. She was physically ill most of her life, and it is suspected she suffered from depression and occasionally mental breakdowns, which may have encouraged her quest for reformation even more. Dorothea Dix represents conflict because she wrote books for the “Asylum Movement,” taught the mentally ill and prisoners, and caused the reformation of hundreds of hospitals. Dix was the eldest child and only daughter of Joseph Dix and Mary Bigelow.
She was soon appointed to organize and outfit the Union Army hospitals and to also oversee the experienced nursing staff that was required. She was the first women to serve at such a high capacity in the federally appointed role. She was very disliked and feared
Midwest and South, as well as in portions of eastern Canada. At this point, she had helped to establish six new hospitals for the mentally ill and had influenced the improvement of numerous other facilities.” She continued on doing this for the next three years. In 1848 she asked for over 12 million acres of land for the mentally ill including the blind and the deaf from Congress. Both houses of Congress, approved of this but then “vetoed by President Franklin Pierce” in 1854.
Dorothea Dix Dorothea Dix was born an raised in Hampden, Maine in 1802. She gave America a new insight on how the mentally ill should be treated and demonstrated the appropriate way to care for others by her call for a reform. Dix was very courageous, she took risks despite the consequences. She was described by most people as the greatest humanitarian, and the most useful and distinguished person in America. This woman changed history by turning America’s views of the mentally ill from cruel and not appearing to have a proper place in the world, into something completely different.
Dorothea Dix Dorothea Dix reformed the conditions of prisoners and the mentally ill. Dorothea had realized that a few prisoners weren't even guilty, they just had mental illnesses. Dorothea´s life work became telling the public about the conditions the inmates were in and also the mentally ill. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott Early on, Elizabeth and Lucrecia had organized a women's rights convention in Seneca Falls.
However, determined to go more than just the state legislatures, she submitted a bill to Congress in 1848 to set aside 5 million acres for institutions of the mentally ill. The bill was finally passed in 1854 by both Congress and the House of Representatives. President Millard Fillmore admired and supported Dorothea Dix and in 1852 signed an executive order to begin construction of a hospital that would benefit Army and Navy veterans. Dorothea soon became ill once again and returned back to the Rathbones family in England to recover. Once returned to
Taking a Stand for the mentally ill Thesis Dorothea Dix took a stand by recognizing the importance of establishing mental institutions. Her philosophy saved mentally unstable people from the harsh treatments they once received in jails Background The conditions that the mentally ill lived under in the mid-19th century were unfitting. Unstable individuals were imprisoned and mistreated. People who suffered from insanity were treated worse than criminals.
Women’s rights and the way they live has changed greatly over the course of time. Back in the day, women did not have equal rights to men and they had to face many challenges in order to receive the jobs they wanted. Nowadays, women can get the same jobs as men and their power is much more appreciated. The 1930’s affected women in a positive way over time as they tried to work their way up in government positions, obtain more profitable jobs, and help provide for their families; but they still had a long ways to go getting equal rights to men.
The Reform of mentally ill was led by Dorthea Dix, a teacher and activist for the treatment of
She taught the staff to influence the government and issues movements in order to help and improve the slums and work conditions, to get rid of child labor, and lower the work hours. The settlement houses started to spread rapidly, in the end about 400 settlement houses were built across America. In the settlement houses, Addams made nurseries, penny savings banks, employment bureaus, social clubs, and music, lecture, reading groups. The settlement houses taught immigrants how to be more sanitary and it helped the poor work harder to take of their family. Addams goal was to help as much as she could and she certainly achieved that
The life of Women in the late 1800s. Life for women in the 1800s began to change as they pushed for more rights and equality. Still, men were seen as better than women, this way of thinking pushed women to break out from the limitations imposed on their sex. In the early 1800s women had virtually no rights and ultimately were not seen as people but they rather seen as items of possession, it wasn’t until the late 1800s that women started to gain more rights. The Civil War actually opened opportunities for women to gain more rights, because with many of the men gone to war women were left with the responsibilities that men usually fulfilled during that time period.
In 1933, by which point women held 100,000 jobs in teaching and 3,000 as doctors and in total made up 36% of the workforce, were bribed with 600K mark loans to quit and or not take up jobs in order to employ the men who lost their jobs via the Depression. This caused 15% of teachers and doctors to be fired. So the Depressions significance tolled in social aspect for women, as they had to abide by Hitlers ideology of women birthing the Aryan race. Meaning they abided by the propaganda policy of “Children, Church and Cooking” which entailed staying at home, emulating traditional German peasant fashion, fertility, not wearing make-up and to focus on finding the ‘ideal’ Aryan partner. 9/10 of young women were sent to farms where they lived under barrack-like accommodation under close supervision.