A Woman to Know: Susan "Bright Eyes" La Flesche Picotte
I saw the need of my people for a good physician. — Susanne La Flesche Picotte
(image via Wikimedia)
When she was just a child living on the Omaha Reservation, Susan "Bright Eyes" La Flesche watched the local white doctor refuse to treat an older Native American woman, even as she lay dying. Ten years later, Susan became the first person awarded government aid to go to college — because she wanted to study medicine, to return to Nebraska to help her people. In 1889, she graduated from the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, the first-ever Native American to earn an M.D. After one year interning in a hospital, she returned to Nebraska, where she spent the rest of her life treating thousands of people over more than 450 square miles — both white patients and Native American patients.
In 1913, just two years before her death, she fulfilled her lifelong dream: opening a hospital just outside the reservation, where doctors treated patients of all races and backgrounds.
Add to your library list:
Native American Doctor: The Story of Susan La Flesche (Jeri Ferris)
A Warrior of the People: How Susan La Flesche Overcome Racial and Gender Equality to Become America's First Indian Doctor (Joe Starita)
Read more:
She turned down fame but held a place in history (Omaha World-Herald)
The incredible legacy of Susan La Flesche (Smithsonian)
Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte (National Institutes of Health)
Susan La Flesche's legacy lives on (Native Daughters)
Illuminating our history: Standing Bear and Susan La Flesche Picotte (Omaha World-Herald)
Watch more:
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