Dorothea Dix
Dorothea Dix | |
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Social reformer | |
Parent(s) | Joseph Dix Mary Bigelow |
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Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802 – July 17, 1887) was an American advocate on behalf of the
Early life
Born in the town of
Although raised Catholic and later directed to Congregationalism, Dix became a Unitarian.[10] After Dix's health forced her to relinquish her school, she began working as a
Antebellum career
Reform movements for treatment of the mentally ill were related in this period to other progressive causes: abolitionism, temperance, and voter reforms. After returning to America, in 1840–41 Dix conducted a statewide investigation of care for the mentally ill poor in Massachusetts. Dorothea's interest for helping out the mentally ill of society started while she was teaching classes to female prisoners in East Cambridge.[13] She saw how these individuals were locked up and whose medical needs weren't being satisfied since only private hospitals would have such provisions.[13] It was during her time at the East Cambridge prison, that she visited the basement where she encountered four mentally ill individuals, whose cells were "dark and bare and the air was stagnant and foul".[14] She also saw how such individuals were labeled as "looney paupers" and were being locked up along with violently deranged criminals and received treatment that was inhumane.[15]
In most cases, towns contracted with local individuals to care for mentally ill people who could not care for themselves and lacked family/friends to do so. Unregulated and underfunded, this system resulted in widespread abuse. Dix published the results in a fiery report, a Memorial, to the
During the year 1844 Dix visited all the counties, jails and
She gave as an example a man formerly respected as a legislator and jurist, who, suffering from mental decline, fell into hard times in old age. Dix discovered him lying on a small bed in a basement room of the county almshouse, bereft of even necessary comforts. She wrote: "This feeble and depressed old man, a pauper, helpless, lonely, and yet conscious of surrounding circumstances, and not now wholly oblivious of the past—this feeble old man, who was he?" Many members of the legislature knew her pauper jurist. Joseph S. Dodd introduced her report to the Senate on January 23, 1845.[18]
Dodd's resolution to authorize an asylum passed the following day. The first committee made their report February 25, appealing to the New Jersey legislature to act at once. Some politicians secretly opposed it due to taxes needed to support it. Dix continued to lobby for a facility, writing letters and editorials to build support. During the session, she met with legislators and held group meetings in the evening at home. The act of authorization was taken up March 14, 1845, and read for the last time. On March 25, 1845, the bill was passed for the establishment of a state facility.[19][20]
Dix traveled from New Hampshire to Louisiana, documenting the condition of the poor mentally ill, making reports to state legislatures, and working with committees to draft the enabling legislation and appropriations bills needed. In 1846, Dix traveled to Illinois to study mental illness. While there, she fell ill and spent the winter in Springfield recovering. She submitted a report to the January 1847 legislative session, which adopted legislation to establish Illinois' first state mental hospital.[21]
In 1848, Dix visited North Carolina, where she again called for reform in the care of mentally ill patients. Her first attempt to bring reform to North Carolina was denied. However, after a board member's wife requested, as a dying wish, that Dix's plea be reconsidered, the bill for reform was approved.[22] In 1849, when the (North Carolina) State Medical Society was formed, the legislature authorized construction of an institution in the capital, Raleigh, for the care of mentally ill patients. Dix Hill Asylum, named in honor of Dorothea Dix's father, was eventually opened in 1856.[23] One hundred years later, the Dix Hill Asylum was renamed the Dorothea Dix Hospital, in honor of her legacy.[22] A second state hospital for the mentally ill was authorized in 1875, Broughton State Hospital in Morganton, North Carolina; and ultimately, the Goldsboro Hospital for the Negro Insane was also built in eastern part of the state. Dix had a biased view that mental illness was related to conditions of educated whites, not minorities (Dix, 1847).[24]
She was instrumental in the founding of the first public mental hospital in Pennsylvania, the Harrisburg State Hospital. In 1853, she established its library and reading room.[25]
The high point of her work in Washington was the
Dix visited the British colony of Nova Scotia in 1853 to study its care of the mentally ill. During her visit, she traveled to Sable Island to investigate reports of mentally ill patients being abandoned there. Such reports were largely unfounded. While on Sable Island, Dix assisted in a shipwreck rescue. Upon her return to Boston, she led a successful campaign to send upgraded life-saving equipment to the island.[27] The day after supplies arrived, a ship was wrecked on the island. Thankfully, because of Dix's work, 180 people were saved.[28]
The Civil War
During the American Civil War, Dix, on June 10, 1861, was appointed Superintendent of Army Nurses by the Union Army, beating out Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell.[29]
Dix set guidelines for nurse candidates. Volunteers were to be aged 35 to 50 and plain-looking. They were required to wear unhooped black or brown dresses, with no jewelry or cosmetics.[30] Dix wanted to avoid sending vulnerable, attractive young women into the hospitals, where she feared they would be exploited by the men (doctors as well as patients). Dix often fired volunteer nurses she hadn't personally trained or hired (earning the ire of supporting groups like the United States Sanitary Commission).[31]
At odds with Army doctors, Dix feuded with them over control of medical facilities and the hiring and firing of nurses. Many doctors and surgeons did not want any female nurses in their hospitals. To solve the impasse, the War Department introduced Order No. 351 in October 1863.
Her even-handed caring for Union and Confederate wounded alike assured her memory in the South. Her nurses provided what was often the only care available in the field to Confederate wounded. Georgeanna Woolsey, a Dix nurse, said, "The surgeon in charge of our camp ... looked after all their wounds, which were often in a most shocking state, particularly among the rebels. Every evening and morning they were dressed." Another Dix nurse, Julia Susan Wheelock, said, "Many of these were Rebels. I could not pass them by neglected. Though enemies, they were nevertheless helpless, suffering human beings."[citation needed]
When Confederate forces retreated from Gettysburg, they left behind 5,000 wounded soldiers. These were treated by many of Dix's nurses. Union nurse Cornelia Hancock wrote about the experience: "There are no words in the English language to express the suffering I witnessed today ...".[36]
She was well respected for her work throughout the war because of her dedication. This stemmed from her putting aside her previous work to focus completely on the war at hand. With the conclusion of the war her service was recognized formally. She was awarded with two national flags, these flags being for "the Care, Succor, and Relief of the Sick and wounded Soldiers of the United States on the Battle-Field, in Camps and Hospitals during the recent war."[37] Dix ultimately founded thirty-two hospitals, and influenced the creation of two others in Japan.[28]
Postwar life
At the end of the war, Dix helped raise funds for the national monument to deceased soldiers at
In 1881, Dix moved into the
Honors
- Dix was elected "President for Life" of the Army Nurses Association (a social club for Civil War Volunteer Nurses), but she had little to do with the organization. She opposed its efforts to get military pensions for its members.[32]
- In December 1866 she was awarded two national flags for her service during the Civil War. This award was awarded for "the Care, Succor, and Relief of the Sick and wounded Soldiers of the United States on the Battle-Field, in Camps and Hospitals during the recent War."[37]
- In 1979 she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.[40]
- In 1983[41] the United States Postal Service honored her life of charity and service by issuing a 1¢ Dorothea Dix Great Americans series postage stamp.
- In 1999 a series of six tall marble panels with a bronze bust in each was added to the Massachusetts State House; the busts are of Dix, Florence Luscomb, Mary Kenney O'Sullivan, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, Sarah Parker Remond, and Lucy Stone.[42] As well, two quotations from each of those women (including Dix) are etched on their own marble panel, and the wall behind all the panels has wallpaper made of six government documents repeated over and over, with each document being related to a cause of one or more of the women.[42]
- A USS Dorothea L. Dix.
- The Bangor Mental Health Institute was renamed in August 2006 to the Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center.[43]
- A crater on Venus was named Dix in her honor.[44]
- She is remembered on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail.[45]
Numerous locations commemorate Dix, including the Dix Ward in
Works
- The Garland of Flora, Boston: S.G. Goodrich & Co., and Carter & Hendee, 1829, retrieved November 12, 2010. Published anonymously.
- Remarks on Prisons and Prison Discipline in the United States, 2nd edition, from the 1st Boston edition, Philadelphia: Joseph Kite & Co, 1845, retrieved November 12, 2010
- Memorial of Miss D. L. Dix in Relation to the Illinois Penitentiary, February 1847, retrieved November 12, 2010
- Memorial of Miss D. L. Dix to the Hon. The General Assembly in Behalf of the Insane of Maryland, House of Delegates?, March 5, 1852, retrieved November 12, 2010
She wrote a variety of other tracts on prisoners. She is also the author of many memorials to legislative bodies on the subject of lunatic asylums and reports on philanthropic subjects.
For young readers
- Conversations on Common Things, or, Guide to Knowledge, with Questions (3rd ed.), Boston: Monroe & Francis, 1828 [1824], retrieved November 12, 2010
- "Conversations on common things". Munroe and Francis – via Internet Archive.
- Note: other replications of this book are also available via Google Books.
- Alice and Ruth
- Evening Hours
and other books.
See also
- Kirkbride Plan
- Dorothea Dix Hospital
- Other nurses of the American Civil War
- Virginia Gonzalez Torres - often referred to as Dorothea Dix of Mexico
Notes
- ^ Internet Archive currently lists seven copies of Francis Tiffany's book, of varying replication quality. The book was reprinted a number of times, and publishers may vary. However, the text is identical. Unfortunately, two of the easier to read versions uploaded to Internet Archive, namely this and this (the two bottom listings), are missing the title page, so were not utilised for the citation in this article. The information provided in the Internet Archive listings should never be used for citation, as they can contain inaccuracies (as can Google book listings). The uploaded, visible text itself should always be relied upon.
References
- ^ Gary Boyd Roberts (Fall 1999). "Notable Kin of Edmund Rice" (PDF). ERA Newsletter. Edmund Rice (1638) Association. p. 5. Retrieved June 23, 2013.
- ^ a b c Stevenson, Keira (August 2017), Dorothea Dix – via EBSCOhost
- ^ Tiffany, Francis (1890), The Life of Dorothea Lynde Dix, Boston & New York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co, p. 1, retrieved November 12, 2010. This sequence of events is described over several chapters, commencing page 180 (n206 in electronic page field).
- ^ a b Chisholm 1911.
- ISBN 978-1-889020-04-4.
- ISBN 9780029123997.
- ^ public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dix, Dorothea Lynde". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 346. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- PMC 1470530.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-889020-04-4.
- ^ "Dorothea Dix: Unitarian Reform". Retrieved October 31, 2021.
- PMC 1470530.
- ^ a b Norbury, Frank (1999). "Dorothea Dix and the Founding of Illinois' First Mental Hospital". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 92: 13–29 – via JSTOR.
- ^ a b c Brickell, Herschel (May 11, 1937). "Dorothea's Dix's Achievements as Friend of Society's Outcasts Described in a Good Biography". New York Post.
- ^ "Hall of Fame to induct Dorothea Dix". Finger Lakes Time. October 23, 1979.
- ^ The Christophers (November 16, 1977). "What One Person Can Do: Dorothea Dix, Advocate for the Mentally Ill". The Hamburg Sun.
- ^ Dix, Dorothea L (1843), Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts 1843, p. 2, retrieved November 12, 2010
- ISSN 1522-5321.
- .
It was first on January 23, 1845, that her Memorial to the legislature of New Jersey was presented to the Senate by Miss Dix's stanch supporter, Hon. Joseph S. Dodd.
- ^ The Institutional Care of the Insane in the United States and Canada, 1916
- ^ "Trenton State Hospital". Asylum Projects.
- ISBN 0-916445-45-3.
- ^ a b January 1849: Dorothea Dix Hospital.
- ^ Nineteenth-Century North Carolina.
- ^ Jackson, Vanessa (2007). "Separate and Unequal: The Legacy of Racially Segregated Psychiatric Hospitals" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 17, 2011.
- ^ "Harrisburg State Hospital", Historic Asylums, article hosted at Rootsweb. It was named in her honor and today serves also as a museum to the history of care for the mentally ill.
- ^ Tiffany, Francis (1890). This sequence of events is described in several chapters, commencing page 180 (n206 in electronic page field)
- ^ "Thomas E. Appleton, "Dorothea Dix", USQUE AD MARE A History of the Canadian Coast Guard and Marine Services".
- ^ ISBN 978-1-889020-04-4.
- ^ "Military Hosipitals, Dorthea Dix, and U.S. Sanitary Commission (1861) | Civil War Medicine". Retrieved June 29, 2022.
- ^ Hardy, Susan and Corones, Anthony, "The Nurse’s Uniform as Ethopoietic Fashion", Fashion Theory, Vol.21, No.5. (2015), pp. 523-552. doi=10.1080/1362704X.2016.1203090
- ^ Giesberg, Judith (April 27, 2011). "Ms. Dix Comes to Washington". Opinionator. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
- ^ a b c Dorothea Dix – via www.bookrags.com.
- ISBN 0762743840.
- ^ Barbra Mann Wall, "Called to a Mission of Charity: The Sisters of St. Joseph in the Civil War, Nursing History Review (1998) Vol. 6, p85-113
- ISBN 9780807124390
- ^ Hancock, Cornelia (1937) South After Gettysburg: Letters of Cornelia Hancock from the Army of the Potomac, 1863–1865, University of Pennsylvania Press, Original from the University of Michigan, Digitized October 27, 2006.
- ^ a b "American National Biography Online: Dix, Dorothea Lynde". www.anb.org. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- ^ Dorothea Lynde Dix.
- ^ "Dorothea Dix". National Women's History Museum. April 18, 2017. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ "Dix, Dorothea". National Women’s Hall of Fame.
- ^ "Women Who Left Their "Stamps" on History". www.infoplease.com.
- ^ a b "HEAR US Virtual Tour". Mass Humanities. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
- ^ "History of Dorothea Dix Psychiatric Center". DHHS Maine. Archived from the original on March 22, 2015. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
- ^ "Dix". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
- ^ "Downtown". Boston Women's Heritage Trail.
- ^ "Negotiations begin in earnest for Dorothea Dix property". WRAL.com. March 10, 2014.
- ^ "About | Dorothea Dix Park". dorotheadixpark.org.
Further reading
- Baker, Rachel. Angel of Mercy: The Story of Dorothea Lynde Dix. New York: Messner, 1955.
- Brown, Thomas J. Dorothea Dix: New England Reformer. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1998.
- Dix, Dorothea Lynde, and David L. Lightner. Asylum, Prison, and Poorhouse: The Writings and Reform Work of Dorothea Dix in Illinois. Carbondale, Ill: Southern Illinois University Press, 1999.
- Lowe, Corinne. The Gentle Warrior: A Story of Dorothea Lynde Dix. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1948.
- Marshall, Helen E. Dorothea Dix: Forgotten Samaritan. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina press, 1937.
- Norman, Gertrude. Dorothea Lynde Dix. Lives to remember. New York: Putnam, 1959.
- ISBN 9780813521909
- Schlaifer, Charles, and Lucy Freeman. Heart's Work: Civil War Heroine and Champion of the Mentally Ill, Dorothea Lynde Dix. New York: Paragon House, 1991.
- Wilson, Dorothy Clarke. Stranger and Traveler: The Story of Dorothea Dix, American Reformer. Boston: Little, Brown, 1975.
- Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
For young readers
- Colman, Penny. Breaking the Chains: The Crusade of Dorothea Lynde Dix. White Hall, Va: Shoe Tree Press, 1992.
- Herstek, Amy Paulson. Dorothea Dix: Crusader for the Mentally Ill. Historical American biographies. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2001.
- Malone, Mary, and Katharine Sampson. Dorothea L. Dix: Hospital Founder. A Discovery biography. New York: Chelsea Juniors, 1991.
- Muckenhoupt, Margaret. Dorothea Dix: Advocate for Mental Health Care. Oxford portraits. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- Schleichert, Elizabeth, and Antonio Castro. The Life of Dorothea Dix. Pioneers in health and medicine. Frederick, Md: Twenty-First Century Books, 1992.
- Witteman, Barbara. Dorothea Dix: Social Reformer. Let freedom ring. Mankato, Minn: Bridgestone Books, 2003.
External links
- Dorothea Dix Correspondence from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society
- Robin Pape, Burkhart Brückner: Biography of Dorothea Lynde Dix in: Biographical Archive of Psychiatry (BIAPSY), 2015.