In 1860, after 21 years of marriage and six children, Elizabeth Packard was locked in an Illinois asylum.

Not for violence. Not for instability. But for disagreeing with her husband’s beliefs. Under the law, a man needed no proof, no trial, not even his wife’s consent to declare her insane.

Inside the asylum, Elizabeth uncovered a cruel truth: many women around her were not “mad” at all. They were wives who resisted, daughters who defied, women who spoke too boldly.

Where others broke, Elizabeth sharpened her pen. She wrote. She observed. She waited.

After three years, she finally stood in court — and defended her right to think for herself. She won her freedom. But she didn’t stop there.

In books, speeches, and campaigns to lawmakers, she exposed the abuses of asylums and fought to reform laws that gave men unchecked power over women.

Elizabeth Packard nearly lost her life as she knew it. But her defiance changed the law — securing protections for generations of women to come.

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