Curated OER
Elizabeth Fry
Students examine the life of Elizabeth Fry and her contributions to prison reform. They participate in a visualization exercise, listen to a guest speaker, create a quilt as a community service project, write journal entries, and...
Curated OER
Reforms of the Mid-1800's
Seventh graders complete a unit of lessons on the reform movements of the mid-1800's in the U.S. They participate in an Internet scavenger hunt, analyze primary source documents, and develop and perform a simulation of a mid-19th century...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: John Mayfield, Triumph of Nationalism: America, 1815 1850
An essay in which historian John Mayfield claims Americans' evangelical passion is the "religious equivalent of nationalism."
University of Nebraska
University of Nebraska Lincoln: Encyclopedia of the Great Plains: Kate Barnard
Learn about the life and humanitarian political work of Oklahoma politician and educator Kate Barnard.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Dorothea Dix 1802 1887
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.
Digital History
Digital History: Pre Civil War Reform: Social Reform the Problem of Crime
A good look at the idea of reform in the prison system in the early 19th century. See how social reformers attempted to rehabilitate those in jail.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Prison and Asylum Reform
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...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Women's Rights
Read about some outspoken women in the 1830s and 1840s, who began speaking out for reforms of many kinds, particularly on the issue of slavery and the rights of women to vote. The Seneca Falls Declaration pushed this idea of equality.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica: 300 Women Who Changed History: Dorothea Dix
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...