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Dixie was a woman who dedicated her life to changing conditions for people who couldn’t do it themselves such as, the mentally ill and the people in prisons. Ms. Dixie was a woman who did many things. She was an author, teacher, activist, and a superintendent of nurses during the civil war. Dixie instilled changes in the treatment and care of the mentally ill and helped improved the living conditions in the prison. The results of her efforts can still be seen throughout the United States.
Early Life Dixie was born April 4, 1802, in Hampered, Maine (I-p. 1976). She lived with her parents but was an unhappy child at home. Dixie later moved to Boston in 1814, to live with her wealthy grandmother. She never really attended school while living with her parents, but in her adulthood, with not to many options for women, Dixie decided to become a school teacher (Parry, M. S. 2006, April). She decided to start her own elementary school in her grandmothers home in 1821 , and 3 years later she wrote and published a book about school teachers (Parry, M. S. 2006, April).
This book reflected how she felt toward women and their education. She believed women should be educated on the same level as men. Dixie published several other books, including books of religious poetry and fictional texts featuring moral lessons. Even though she was a successful person she still felt as if she was missing something. She often suffered from depression from time to time and experienced break downs. Dixie later began to volunteer teaching Sunday school at an all-women’s prison. While working there she saw people with mental illnesses who were to being treated.
She then became determine to improve the prison conditions. She started out investigating different treatments of the mentally ill. Dixie reached out to the state and submitted a “memorial” to the state legislature. She was determine to do all she could to help these women (Parry, M. S. 2006, April). Field Of practice Dixie contributed so many things to the field of social work before it was even born but, she was not a social worker. She started out as a school teacher in Boston. Her career began to expand as she worked with female convicts on Sundays.
There she found mentally ill and retarded people locked up in unheated cells. Working with these women and seeing there conditions made her reach out to people who had mental illnesses. She wanted to help no matter what it took. Dixie later had a hospital named after her in her honor. She believed in women rights and how society treated those who poverty knocked down to being homeless and who diseases had deprived them of reasons. Many people looked at her as a nurse who fought for the rights of individuals with mental problems.
She wanted to change the things that took lace in the prisons and wanted help for the mentally ill. She put forth a lot of effort towards theses causes (Parry, M. S. 2006, April). Contributions to Social Work Dixie was responsible for the improvement of hospitals in Rhode Island and New York. She also established hospitals in 13 other states and the District of Columbia (l. P. 1976). She was appointed the highest office held by a woman during the war to be the superintendent of nurses. She supervised all of the nurses there at that time.
Dixie asked the congress to grant more than 12 lion of land to be used for the mentally ill as well as the deaf and blind. The congress approved at this time but, was later vetoed by President Franklin Pierce. Dixie legacy is seriously disproportionate, barely beginning to ask why her efforts for Asylums proved so much success. She was also an advocate for the needy in her society (one who is self- centered and troublesome). Dixie was a woman who worked to promote the welfare of the sick and wounded. She contributed a lot of hard work and effort to support those women and the mentally ill.
She made sure she mad a difference in people lives. Conclusion Throated Dixie was an amazing woman. She is somebody that I would be proud to become just like, She contributed so much to the social work field. I wrote about Miss Dixie because she made a way for the women in prison and choose to help the ill. She seen many visions of things that needed to be done and she set her mind to conquering them all. While fulfilling this assignment I learned that social work is not just about working with children and finding them great homes but, there is so much more to the field.