“In a world where there is so much to be done. I felt strongly impressed that there must be something for me to do.(Dix)” Few people can say that they have achieved as much as Dorothea Dix had in her her lifetime. Born in 1802 to Mary Bigelow and Joseph Dix, Dorothea Dix and her two younger brothers suffered poverty and abuse from their alcoholic parents. It is speculated that during this time she experienced severe depression which may have had a hand in inspiring her to reforming the treatment and care of the mentally ill. In 1814, she and her brothers escaped their parents by moving in with their wealthy grandmother in Boston. Having already been taught to read and write, she was then forced to become educated in acting as a “young lady” with the help of her great aunt; Dix greatly resented this at the time. During this period of her life, Dorothea Dix was acquainted with her cousin, who inspired her to open a “Little Dame School” in 1816, which she ran for three years before returning to Boston. In 1821, she opened another school catering to both poor and wealthy girls separately. She taught here until 1836 when she contracted tuberculosis. As per her doctor’s recommendation, she spent a long vacation in England until 1837, following the …show more content…
She is said to have been, "a very retiring, sensitive woman, yet brave and bold as a lion to do battle for the right and for justice. . . . She was very unpopular in the war with surgeons, nurses, and any others, who failed to do their whole duty. (Wood, 2000)" Although she wasn’t very proficient in the nursing field, her work in the war received much respect and special recognition from the Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton. She rightfully earned two national flags for, "the Care, Succor, and Relief of the Sick and wounded Soldiers of the United States on the Battlefield, in Camps and Hospitals during the recent
The letter never made it to her before she died. She did many things for theUnion army when they were basically at her doorstep. She filled their canteens, she baked them bread,and she made them food. She died whilst preparing bread for Union soldiers.
Clarissa Harlowe Barton, born on December 25, 1821, in North Oxford, Massachusetts. Carissa (Clara) was born the youngest of five children to Sarah and Steven Barton. Clara received all of her schooling and life training from her parents, brothers and sisters. Her father who was a once a captain in a war, taught Clara all he knew about the battlefield. Her mother taught her to sew and cook. Her two older sisters Sally and Dorothy taught her to read before she was four years old. Her brother Stephen taught her arithmetic and David her eldest brother taught her everything else; for instance, how to ride anything on anything with four legs, how to shoot a revolver, how to balance and how to take care of and nurse animals. (OTQEF, 1999, p.1) When Clara was 11 years old her favorite brother David, fell from the roof of the barn while trying to fix it, he was seriously injured and was not expected to live. Clara offered to help him and stayed by his side for three years. Her brother recovered thanks to Clara’s help. These learning experiences gave Clara the drive and determination to achieve anything she set out...
http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/dorotheadix.html. The website is an excellent source that chronicles Dix’s early life. As a child she lived in a household with a mentally unstable mother and an alcoholic father. This site details her first career as a teacher, then her second career as a social reformer. The Webster site gives an abundance of specific detail about how Dix influenced people and how passionate she was about her beliefs. The last portion of the website biography laments the fact that Dix and her accomplishments are sadly under-reported in most history and psychology textbooks, but that this fact would sit very well with Dix herself, as she preferred to not be in the spotlight.
On April 4, 1802 in Hampden, Maine, Dorothea Lynde Dix was born to Joseph and Mary Dix. Due to her mother's poor health, Dix assumed the household duties of tending to the house and caring for her two younger brothers from a very young age. Meanwhile, her father traveled as a preacher who sold religious books that Dix and her family stitched together. Her only escape from her responsibilities, were in the occasional visits she paid to her grandparents on her father's side, during which she became very close to her doting grandfather; therefore, his death in 1809 left her aching. Eventually, Dix became frustrated with her pressing responsibilities and home life, so she fled to her grandmother's home in Boston, where her grandmother attempted to instill proper manners and etiquette, however Dix did not take well to her instruction, so she was shipped off to her cousins in Worchester. Finally, surrounded by other children her age who possessed good manners, Dix developed the poise and skills that defined and followed her throughout the rest of her life (Morin).
Clara Barton was born during 1821 in Massachusetts. As a young child, Barton learned a great deal of schooling from her older siblings; she learned a wide variety of different subjects. She seized every educational opportunity that she was given and she worked hard to receive a well rounded-education. Clara Barton would later use her education to create her own school and eventually help start an organization that is still used today. As a young child, Clara was extremely shy; nevertheless, after many years she was able to overcome this. Even as a young child Clara thrived helping others. She tended to her sick brother who was severely injured by a roofing accident on a regular basis. The skills she learned from helping her brother proved to be used again when she was on the front-line of the Civil War helping wounded soldiers.
paved the way for religious freedom. She was a great leader in the cause for
The history of nursing important to understand because it can help our professionals today to know why things are the way it is now and can have solutions to unsolvable problems from history. Captain Mary Lee Mills was an African-American woman born in Wallace, North Carolina in August 1912. She was a role model, an international nursing leader, and a humanitarian in her time. She joined many nursing associations, she participated in public health conferences, gained recognition and won numerous awards for her notable contributions to public health nursing. Her contributions throughout her lifetime made a huge impact on the world today and has changed the lives of how people live because of her passion for public health nursing.
Her plan was a success and she was able to start her own women’s nursing corps. Because of their efforts and determination, those two women were acknowledged for helping allowing women to become nurses
The images created by propaganda poster had a dramatic effected on convincing many women to choose nursing as a career and dedicate their efforts to serve their country by enlisting in the Red Cross and the United States military. “Over 350,000 American women volunteered to serve in the armed forces during World War II. More than 59,000 of those women were registered nurses, who volunteered to serve in the United States Army Nurse Corps” (Monahan and Greenlee pg.
Her mother was sick and suffered a bit of mental illness, while her father was an abusive alcoholic. She was twelve years old when she moved to Boston to live with her wealthy grandmother in 1814. Dix started to take an interest in education because of her grandmother. In the early 1800s, Dix built an academy in her grandmother's mansion for affluent young girls and a free school for the poor (Dorothea Lynde Dix 1). Some time later, she established public schools in Boston and Worcester; creating her own educational program and administer classrooms as a teenager and young woman (History.com Staff 2). At the age of fourteen, Dix decided to open a small school in Worcester for young children. Where she taught them basic reading and writing skills in the range of three to four year old children (Breaking the Chains 239). She was very strict in her discipline, but her tactics were appropriate, necessary, and wise (Breaking the Chains 255). Because of her establishing public schools around Boston and Worcester, the destitute children could have an education. Several years later, a student from Harvard Divinity School had asked if Dix would take a job to teach the inmates at East Cambridge prison (Breaking the Chains
She was an abolitionist and women’s right’s activist and was born a slave in New York State. She bore around thirteen children and had three of them sold away from her. She became involved in supporting freed people during the Reconstruction Period.
Brackman, in “Civil War Women: Their Quilts, their Roles, Activities for Re-Enactors,” tells the stories of nurses, refugees, civilians, and spies during the Civil War. Bold stories of women who are taking care of children and wounded soldiers having to flee their burning homes to save their families. The horror of hospital work with seeing many men dying in agony from battle wounds that are infect by maggots and disease. There is a story that a woman named Georgeanna Woosley made up a costume for women nurses that were not used in the hospitals. Sarah Hill notes on a ship that she saw this costume and knew from the hat and hoop skirt that Woosley was not a nurse.
This site was very vital to my paper. It gave me a lot of information on Dorothea Dix.
Esther Reed was one such woman who helped start an organization to help the soldiers who were fighting. Her organization was known as the Philadelphia Association. The Association felt sympathy for the soldiers and decided to take action. They raised money to send to the soldiers, however, George Washington did not approve of this. Instead, the women decided to send warm shirts to the soldiers. They each stitched their names into the shirts they made as a little spirit-raiser to the soldiers out in the cold. The soldiers were reminded that everyone was appreciativ...
However, women desired a higher education. Elizabeth Blackwell is a prime example of women’s fight for a medical degree, one of the first STEM environments available to women. In order to kick-start her education she wrote to all of the doctors that she knew, requesting advice and help. However, most of the doctors replied that they thought it impossible, that a woman would not be able to endure the rigors of a medical education, and that they feared the competition that women doctors would bring. Elizabeth persisted, finally making her way to Philadelphia, a city famous for its study in medicine, to stay with Dr. Elder, one of the few supporters of her education. Once here she continued writing letters and actually found many friends who agreed to support her cause, but unfortunately universities were not included in this list of friends. Elizabeth then pursued an education at the University of Geneva in New York where the Medical Faculty and students agreed to accept her. While at first the university cared about the press coverage that Elizabeth’s spot would bring, she eventually established her rightful place as a student there. Although she encountered some resentment among the wives of doctors and other people living in the small town, Elizabeth ...