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Figure 1. Portrait of Dorthea Dix, Circa 1968, Getty Images 2010

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Dorthea Dix (Born April 4th, 1802 - Died July 17th 1887) is best known for pressuring states to reform the way they took care of their prison inmates and mentally ill.  Through her reforms, she pushed for more training opportunity for women in an era where male doctors showed much distain for female nurses, worked to reform hospital systems both in the US and abroad and created asylums for the mentally ill (Norwood, 2017).

Dix was chronically ill, and spent much time in and out of hospitals.  She was also a Calvinist, and as such would not allow herself to idle for too long (Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.).  This would play greatly into many of her later roles.

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Figure 2:  Photograph, Sara Winter, n.d.

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Dorthea Dix was born in Hampden Maine in 1802.  While little is known about her childhood, it is believed that both her parents suffered from alcoholism.  As a result she was sent to live with her grandmother in Boston.   Here she would be educated and tutor children.   Dorthea became ill several times while living in Boston, and at the urging of a doctor was sent to live in Europe (Norwood, 2017).

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Fig 3. Map of Europe, Wikipedia Commons, 2011

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While in Europe, Dorthea made the acquaintance of mental health reformers who were working to better the way the mentally ill were taken care of in Europe (Norwood, 2017).  Upon returning home, Dorthea was very much considered a semi-invalid, but to her surprise had inherited enough money for her to survive comfortably on for the rest of her life.  As a devout Cavinist however, to simply remain idle would have gone against her beliefs (Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.).

A clergyman challenged her to teach Sunday school to a group of prisoners.  It was here that she began to see the deplorable conditions people were in. Prisoners were often unclothed, left in darkness in unsanitary conditions.  They were often mentally ill, and physically abused (Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.).  Dix would spend between 1841 to 1843 traveling between these in-state institutions, before revealing her findings to the public (Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.).

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Fig 4.  Reform Sign, Nick Youngston, n.d.

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In 1843, Dorthea shared her findings with the Massachusetts' state legislature and was responsible for passing a bill to enlarge the Worchester State asylum.  She would spend the next forty years of her life establishing mental hospitals across fifteen states.

The Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica (n.d.) indicate that she when new facilities weren't required, she would often advocate for larger, better trained staffs and reorganizations of hospitals.

During the civil war, Dix would work with male doctors who were antagonistic of female nurses.   She was known for setting impossibly high standards for her nurses to meet, but as a result the Union nurses were highly effective.   She would go on to advocate for better training and opportunities for female nurses (Norwood, 2017).

Dorthea's changes were important to social work because she began a movement away from the Elizabethan view that being poor or mentally ill were the fault of the individual.  Social justice became a passion of hers, and she approached these individuals as human, and advocated for humane treatment of the prisoners.

Additionally, Dorthea was one of the first people to seriously advocate for women's training and job advancement in areas traditionally meant for men. She had began her life in relative privilege. However, by the end of it she had worked tirelessly to improve the lives of those in need.

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Editors of the Encyclopedia Britannica. (n.d.). Dorothea Dix | American social reformer. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved June 9, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dorothea-Dix

Getty Images. (2010). Portrait of Dorothea Dix, circa 1868 [Illustration]. Getty Images. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-dorothea-dix-circa-1868-news-photo/96795827?adppopup=true

Norwood, A. (2017). Biography: Dorothea Dix. National Women’s History Museum. Retrieved June 9, 2022, from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/dorothea-dix

Wikipedia Commons. (2011, July 11). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BLANK_in_Europe_(relief)_(-mini_map)_(-political_borders).svg [Illustration]. Wikipedia.Org. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BLANK_in_Europe_(relief)_(-mini_map)_(-political_borders).svg

Winter, S. (n.d.). Portland Head Lighthouse Cape Elizabeth Maine, Photographed at sunrise [Photography]. Shutterstock. https://www.shutterstock.com/en/image-photo/portland-head-lighthouse-cape-elizabeth-maine-597407900?src=X6CIJbUESdGxGKGIAriAjQ-1-16

Youngston, N. (n.d.). Reform Sign [Photograph]. The Blue Diamond Gallery. https://thebluediamondgallery.com/highway-signs/r/reform.html