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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Boston Women: The Struggle for Freedom 1760 -1850

For Teachers 5th
Fifth graders investigate the lives and various accomplishments of selected women of Boston.In this famous women writing lesson, 5th graders research biographical information. Students discuss the achievements of these women using...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dorothea Dix: Reform in Massachusetts

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the life and reform efforts of Dorothea Dix on behalf of people with disabilities. They discover how her efforts resulted in the passage of legislation. They also examine the care people with disabilities receive.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Woman's Crusade: Dorothea Dix

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the life and reform efforts of Dorothea Dix on behalf of people with disabilities. They also examine the role of women in the 1840s and 1850s. They discover different sources of examples of citizen's rights.
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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: John Mayfield, Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850

For Teachers 9th - 10th
An essay in which historian John Mayfield claims Americans' evangelical passion is the "religious equivalent of nationalism."
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Handout
National Women’s History Museum

National Women's History Museum: Dorothea Dix

For Students 9th - 10th
Dorothea Dix was an early 19th century activist who drastically changed the medical field during her lifetime.
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Handout
Civil War Home

Home of the American Civil War: Civil War Nurses

For Students 9th - 10th
This site tells the story of the women nurses during the Civil War, including Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton. From "Civil War Nurse" edited by John R. Brumgardt.
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Handout
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Dorothea Dix 1802 1887

For Students 3rd - 8th
Best know for her work with the mentally ill. Dorthea Dix also was very involved in the work of prison reform. Here, you can read her fascinating life story.
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Handout
Digital History

Digital History: Pre Civil War Reform: Assisting the Disabled

For Students 9th - 10th
The early 19th century saw giant strides in social reform. Read about those who advocated for the mentally ill, deaf, and blind from the Digital textbook from University of Houston.
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Handout
Social Studies Help Center

Social Studies Help Center: Individual's Impact on the Nation's Problems

For Students 9th - 10th
Find out about the impact of social reformers in the 19th century including women's rights, temperance, care for the mentally ill, and education.
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Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: The Northern Homefront

For Students 5th - 8th
The military-industrial complex thrived in the North during the Civil War, but read about how inflation affected the ordinary worker. See how the role of women expanded to fill in for men who were away fighting. Women also had an impact...
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Website
Independence Hall Association

U.s. History: Prison and Asylum Reform

For Students 5th - 8th
Two of the social movements of the 1830s and 1840s looked to improving the lot of the mentally ill and those in prison. Read about Dorothea Dix who crusaded for humane treatment and hospitals for the insane. Several others worked to make...
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Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Portrait Gallery: American Women: Dorothea Dix

For Students 9th - 10th
Contains a portrait and brief biography of Dorothea Dix.
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Article
Encyclopedia Britannica

Encyclopedia Britannica: 300 Women Who Changed History: Dorothea Dix

For Students 9th - 10th
Encyclopaedia Britannica provides a biography of Dorothea Lynde Dix (1802-1887 CE), most noted for her report to the Massachusetts legislature about the inhumane conditions under which the mentally ill are held in prisons. Her report led...
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Article
A&E Television

History.com: How the Us Civil War Inspired Women to Enter Nursing

For Students 9th - 10th
Before the American Civil War, the majority of hospital nurses or "stewards" were men. But the war created a medical crisis that demanded more volunteers, and a lot of the people who took up the call were women. Amid this desperate need...
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Primary
Digital Public Library of America

Dpla: Women of the Antebellum Reform Movement

For Students 9th - 10th
This primary source set uses documents and photographs to tell the story of several women reformers of the early 1800s.
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Handout
Civil War Home

Home of the American Civil War: Dorothea Dix

For Students 9th - 10th
This page gives a brief biography of Dorothea Dix, nurse and social reformer, who was placed in charge of all the Union nurses in the Civil War. From the "Encyclopedia of the Civil War" by Suzanne LeVert.
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eBook
Open Library of the Internet Archive

Open Library: American Moral Tales

For Students 9th - 10th
This ebook version of Dorothea Lynde Dix's American Moral Tales has been made available in multiple formats by the Open Library. Editions of the full novel, organized by year of publication, may be accessed here.
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Graphic
Curated OER

Dorothea Dix

For Students 3rd - 8th
This site has photographs and paintings of Civil War leaders, both political and military. Clicking on the arrow will take you through pictures and brief biographies of the leaders. From the National Portrait Gallery.