Dorothea Dix (1802)
Dix left an unhappy home at age 10 to live with her grandmother in Boston. By age 14, the resourceful Dix was on her own and working as a schoolteacher. In 1841, while teaching in a Massachusetts prison, Dix saw firsthand the inhumane way that mentally ill prisoners were treated. Appalled, she became a pioneer in the movement for humane treatment of the insane. Her efforts brought about widespread reforms in both the US and Canada. What position did Dix hold during the US Civil War? More…
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