Unit 3: A Woman’s Crusade: Dorothea Dix

Grades

• 9-10
• 11-12

Subjects

• Civics
• History
• Language
• Social Studies

Overview of Lesson Plan

• Dorothea Dix was the first to make the public aware of the terrible living conditions of people with mental illness and other disabilities in jails and poorhouses when she engaged in a one-person campaign of reform in the mid 1800s. She advocated for the involvement of the state and federal governments in supporting people with mental illness and other disabilities.   For Dix, there was only one solution to the horrible conditions she witnessed: the creation of separate mental hospitals or asylums.  She had no confidence in the ability to reform the poorhouses. Dix was so successful that by the end of the 19th century, hospitals or asylums had been established throughout the states.

Standards

• 1. Identify and describe historical periods and patterns of change.
  2. Analyze influences on people, events, and elements of culture in historical settings.
  3. Describe the various forms institutions take and explain how they develop and change over time.
  4. Describe and examine belief systems basic to specific traditions in historical movements.
  5. Analyze and evaluate the influence of various forms of citizen action on public policy.
  

Objectives

• 1. To understand how the treatment of people with disabilities at any time in history is related to the politics, culture, and beliefs of that time.
  2. To describe the link between beliefs and actions in social policy.
  3. To understand the role of individuals in creating social change.
  4. To examine some of the tools that have historically been employed in reform.
  

Questions to Consider

• 1. In what ways is the treatment of people with disabilities related to the politics, culture, and beliefs of a particular historical period?
• 2. What factors affect an individual’s ability to influence public policy?

Resources and Materials

• 1. Steve Taylor, “A Woman’s Crusade: Dorothea Dix.â€�
  2. Dorothea Dix, Memorial to the Massachusetts Legislature, 1843 (Since the document, “Memorial to the Legislature,� is very long, teachers might ask students to read the document for homework the night before.)

Activities and Procedures

• 1. Group Discussion: In pairs, have students read the essay, “A Woman’s Crusade: Dorothea Dixâ€� (Taylor, 2004). Then ask them to read “Memorial to the Legislature of Massachusettsâ€� (Dix, 1843). Ask them to highlight passages they find especially shocking as they read. Each pair should answer the following questions regarding these documents:
• a) What do these documents tell you about the lives of people with disabilities at the time they were published?
• b) What do these documents tell you about the beliefs people held about individuals with disabilities at the time they were published?
• c) Why were people with disabilities living in jails and poorhouses?
• d) Why do you suppose the abuse was so rampant?  Were abusive people taking jobs in these institutions or were the institutions “inspiringâ€� abusive behavior?
• e) What tools did Dix use in trying to reform the system?  
• f) What did Dix want from lawmakers?
• 2. Group Discussion: Ask each pair to find another pair so that all students will be in groups of four.  Then, tell students they will be working with this group to “illustrateâ€� the Memorial for one another; they will create these illustrations by forming still images of jails and poorhouse scenes with their bodies.  This activity is called “tableauxâ€� or “depiction.â€� Ask students to choose one part of the Memorial that was particularly moving or startling.  Tell them they must represent this event by depicting it visually. These freeze images should capture a dramatic moment from the memorial (e.g., someone being forced into a closet, someone being chained to a bed); they will recreate this moment in a series of 2-3 freeze frames.  Remind students that they should take the exercise seriously and demonstrate respect for those they are representing.  After groups have approximately 15 minutes to plan, allow each group to present their sequence of depictions to the class. Don’t forget to have the class close their eyes while the group changes from one tableaux to the next. Remind students that they will not be narrating their scene in any way but the teacher will read the text from the Memorial that corresponds to the tableaux as students are in formation.   As each group “performsâ€� ask the class to just observe silently and to try and understand what the group is communicating.  Move from one group to the next without discussion.
• 3. Class Discussion: Bring students together in a large circle to debrief the activity when they are finished.  Ask the group to answer these questions:
• a) What are the stories of these individuals?  What did you see, feel, or think?
• b) How did you feel portraying ______ (a person living in a poorhouse, a person abusing a person with mental illness)?
• c) If your character had been allowed to talk during the tableaux, what might he or she have said?
• d) What do you think happened five minutes or ten minutes or six months or five years after the event you portrayed?  How do you suppose these lives changed over time, if at all?
• 4. Class Discussion: Finally, as a class, review this passage from the essay, “A Women’s Crusade: Dorothea Dixâ€� (Taylor, 2004): “Although Dix failed to have the federal government fund care of the indigent insane and idiotic, her efforts, together with those of the emerging professional class in insanity and idiocy, ultimately led states to take over responsibility for the care of people with mental illness and mental retardation by establishing specialized hospitals and asylums. By 1860, 28 of the 33 states had established public insane asylums.â€� Then ask all students to reflect on this question: Was Dix successful in her quest?  Why or why not?  Did people with mental illness and other disabilities fare better in asylums?  What type of reform do you think people with disabilities in the poorhouses and jails might have wanted? What is Dix’s most important contribution?

Eras

• 1810-1865

Disability

• Developmental Disabilities
• Intellectual Disabilities
• Mental Illness
• Mental Retardation
• Psychiatric Disabilities

Topics

• Almshouse
• Asylum
• Disability Rights
• Exposés
• Government
• Mental Hospital

Copyright

• (c) 2006 Syracuse University. All rights reserved.

Author(s)

• Paula Kluth, Ph.D.

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