Short Biography: Dorothea Dix: Reformer And Challenges

Dorothea Dix (DT 1 & 2) Dorothea Lynde Dix was a reformer and advocate in the early 1800s. She was born in Hampden, Maine, in the year 1802. Her advocacy mainly centered around mental health reforms and civil, humane treatment for the inmates of mental hospitals and prisons. Dix was raised in a neglectful home, and then moved to live with her wealthy grandmother. It is also thought that she may have suffered from depression or another mental ailment, which is why she may have chosen to take up reforming mental health institutions (Parry, 2006). Before beginning her extensive reforms, she was a prolific writer and elementary school teacher (Parry, 2006). Her writings, especially the schoolbooks she wrote, reflect her belief that women should be educated to the same level as men, which was not a common belief at the time (Parry, 2006). (DT 4, 5, 6) However, Dix did not limit her influence to the healthcare sphere. She also got involved with politics in order to further her reformational agenda. In the early …show more content…
While in New York City, in 1827, Isabella came had a personal experience with God and he granted her a new name, Sojourner Truth (Painter). Sojourner Truth was given to her because it means “itinerant preacher” (Painter). Around mid- to late 1840’s, she became a preacher and a public speaker for equal women’s right and educational rights (Katz). Because Sojourner was born into slavery she was never given the chance to be properly educated, so she was illiterate for her entire life. Although illiterate, she was able to learn by observing and practicing, inspiration (holy spirit), and being read to, and reading the little text that she could (Painter). Luckily, she had made a friend, Olive Gibbert, who always transcribed Sojourner’s narratives and speeches, like her most famous one pronounced in Akron, Ohio (1851), Ain’t I a Woman?