10 x 14"
Watercolor, ink, chalk

Dorothea Dix

1820-1887

Dorothea Dix devoted nearly her whole life to the care of the mentally ill. Their plight was first brought to her attention in 1841 when she volunteered to teach Sunday school in a Cambridge, Massachusetts, jail.

There, she found the mentally ill, the retarded, and epileptics housed without heat or sanitation with prostitutes, drunks, and criminals. She went on to visit prisons, asylums, almshouses, and orphanages in every state east of the Mississippi River. She found inmates caged, whipped, and chained, with only straw to sleep on. She documented the conditions and presented her findings to the state legislatures. As a result of her work, hospitals were enlarged, new ones founded, and treatments were developed.

During the Civil War she took time off from mental health work to take charge of women nurses in army hospitals.

“Dragon Dix,” as she was sometimes known, was stern. Nurses had to be plain looking and middle aged. Flighty women, women looking for husbands, women wearing hoops or jewelry, were not accepted.

After the war, Dix returned to her life’s work. She founded hospitals and schools and spread understanding of the needs of the mentally ill.