Dorothea Dix

Dorothea Dix (born April 4, 1802, Hampden, District of Maine, Massachusetts [now in Maine], U.S.—died July 17, 1887, Trenton, New Jersey) was an American educator, social reformer, and humanitarian whose devotion to the welfare of the mentally ill led to widespread reforms in the United States and abroad. Dix left her unhappy home at age 12 to live and study in Boston with her grandmother. By age 14 she was teaching in a school for...