Description
Dorothea Dix was an activist in the antebellum period (after the War of 1812 and before the Civil War began in 1861) of the United States. She was a crusader for the reform of prisons and asylums throughout the country. She toured facilities and made reports, or memorials, to state legislatures, securing funding for institutions, specifically for those with mental disabilities. This report to the Massachusetts legislature is an example of what Dix did to earn her reputation as a successful reformer.
Transcript of "I Tell What I Have Seen" — The Reports of Asylum Reformer Dorothea Dix"
Source-Dependent Questions
- Describe the method(s) Dorothea Dix used to find the information about prisons and asylums shared in her report?
- Summarize the conditions Dix found in the prisons and asylums she visited in two or three sentences.
- What can you infer about Dix's feelings regarding the conditions she found in prisons and asylums? What reforms do you think she wanted? Cite evidence from the text.
- Dix says that her report is "unsolicited" meaning that the legislature did not ask her to give it. What do you think motivated her to submit it? Does the fact that she wasn't asked to submit a report impact her reliability and/or credibility? Why or why not?
- What predictions can you make regarding Dix's call for the legislature to "restore the outcast" and "defend the helpless?"
- In all but a few states, women in the United States were not allowed to vote in the 1800s. What methods of reform were open to them? How did Dorothea Dix make a difference even though she couldn't vote in Massachusetts?
Citation Information
Dix, Dorothea, "Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusetts," American Journal of Public Health, pp. 622-625, 1843. Courtesy of National Center for Biotechnology Information