Susan La Flesche Picotte

Susan La Flesche Picotte lived from 1865-1915, born at the end of Civil War and died soon after white women secured their right to vote.   There are many records of women activists during this time, but I had not yet heard of Picotte until I did very specific searches on Native American history.

As you read...

Consider the amazing accomplishments this woman had, and ask: can her work be considered feminist action?   She was not connected to mainstream's "first wave" of feminism, but can her tireless efforts in caring for her own people, empowering them to care for themselves and encouraging social change in her society be considered feminist?  What makes an action feminist?

 

From Native American Doctor: The Story of Susan La Flesche Picotte

Susan La Flesche Picotte was the daughter of Omaha chief, Iron-Eye.  Picotte was born shortly after the Homestead Act of 1862, a federal act promising 160 acres free land to all individuals that said they were willing to farm it. All white individuals, that is: Native Americans were not allowed to claim their own land, but forced off of it for these "pioneers" to be given it for free.

Picot's father, Iron Eye, announced that everywhere he looks, he sees white men. He felt the best chance for his family's survival was for them to be educated in the white man's ways and culture.  He created considerable controversy in his tribe by doing so, and experienced conflict from his decision.

As such, Picotte experienced an upbringing that was half-Omaha and half-white world.  She was sent to boarding school to learn English and receive "Westernized" schooling.  She was constantly pulled between her two realities and spent her life trying to prove her Omaha-ness to her tribe and her white-ness to her colleagues.  Her struggle is one many of us can relate to, trying to balance within two realms, unsure if we ever fit into one or the other.

While in school, she developed a love for the human body and how it functions in so many amazing ways.  She considered all back home in her Omaha nation that were sick and dying because the white male doctor simply didn't see the value in visiting them.  "It was only an Indian and didn't matter...the doctor preferred hunting for prairie chickens rather than visiting poor, suffering humanity" (Pascale).   She decided she wanted to pursue medicine: something unthinkable in a time period when there were few women doctors, and none of Native American descent.

Picotte became the first Native American person to receive any government assistance for higher education.  She received $167 in tuition money to attend medical school, but the Commissioner of Indian Affairs made it clear he hoped she would be the "instrument of change" for Native American culture by "undermining the medical men's influence on the tribe" (Pascale).   Again, we see white individuals interested in helping a person of color only when they have a vested personal interest in the matter.   Picotte graduated from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania and served an internship.  After that, she returned to her reservation with a singular activist goal: to work with her own people and care for the Omaha.

She became the reservation doctor in 1889 and reported success in helping her nation eradicate illnesses and diseases they had been experiencing on the reservation.

"Hardly an Omaha lived who had not been treated by her, and hundreds of white people as well owed their lives to her care" (Ferris, 1991).

Her office became a source of social fellowship for her people as well as the place when all who were sick could seek treatment.   She worked around the clock, putting a lantern in her window at night to reassure others that she was available whenever someone fell sick.  Through her hard and diligent work she advocated for a hospital in her community, and succeeded in 1913: the hospital was established to treat all individuals, no matter the race or gender.   When she died in 1915, the hospital was named in her honor.

Picotte did not make a splash in the woman's feminist movement of the time, but she was a true Native American activist because she secured her skills to help her own people.  By educating them on making health choices and treating preventable diseases, she elicited social change and empowered her Omaha tribe.   In learning about Marie Curie and Florence Nightengale, we should also be learning about Picotte.


Discussion Questions:

Why do you think we have not learned about Picotte when learning about the history of medicine, science, or influential women in grade school?

What efforts do you make to expose yourself to stories that are not in our mainstream society?

Can Picotte's work be considered feminist action?  What determines whether one's actions are "feminist" or not if there is no evidence of self-definition in the individual?

Ferris, Jeri. (1991).  Native American Doctor: The Story of Susan LaFlesche Picotte. Trailblazer Biographies. Web. 

Pascale, Jordan. (2011).  "Susan LaFlesche's Legacy Lives On". Native Daughters. Web.