Caged Freedom: Dorothea Dix & the Asylum Reform Movement

This is an inquiry-based lesson centered around Dorothea Dix, an antebellum reformer concerned with the conditions and treatment of individuals with mental illnesses in the 1830s and 1840s. In this lesson, students will uncover how people with mental illnesses were viewed and treated at this time, and how Dorothea Dix worked to improve these conditions.

This lesson is very adaptable, and can serve as an excellent introduction to the antebellum reform movements in America or to a deeper unit or conversation on mental health. I consistently use it in my middle and high school classes, and I am always amazed at how engaged the students are in uncovering what is going on in the documents, and at the conversations they have about how seriously mental and emotional health should be taken.