Fourth Grade
Worksheets
Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Dix was born on April 4, 1802, in Maine. She was the oldest of three children. Dorothea did not have a good childhood. Her father was an alcoholic. Her mother suffered from depression. It was not a happy home to grow up in.
Dorothea was a school teacher as a young adult. It wasn't until she was thirty-nine that she started the career that she would be known for. In 1841, she volunteered to teach a class to women inmates. These women were in a jail in Massachusetts. Dorothea was shocked by what she saw.
She saw the sane and insane all crowded together in the same cells. The inmates were dressed in rags and poorly fed. Many of the cells did not have enough heat. The people suffered from the cold. Some people were kept chained.
Dorothea started fighting for these people right away. She pushed the jail to put a stove in every cell. She also pushed for the inmates to get more food and better clothing.
Her thoughts about the mentally ill were different for the time. Most people thought that people with mental illness could never be helped. They were shut away and forgotten about. At the time, the best place to put these people was in a prison.
