Susan la flesche biography
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Susan La Flesche Picotte was first individ to receive federal aid for professional education, and the first American Indian woman in the United States to receive a medical grad. In her remarkable career she served more than 1,300 people over 450 square miles, giving financial advice and resolving family disputes as well as providing medical care at all hours of the day and night.
Susan La Flesche was born to Chief namn La Flesche (Iron Eyes) and his wife, Mary (One Woman) on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska. She attended school there until age 14. Her father encouraged his people to seek education and build relationships with white reform groups. After being home-schooled for several years, Picotte was sent to the Elizabeth Institute for ung Ladies in New Jersey, and returned home at age 17 to teach at the Quaker uppdrag School on the Omaha Reservation for two years.
As a child, she had watched a sick Indian woman die because the local white doctor would not
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Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte: The First Indian Doctor
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It’s difficult to do justice to the impact Susan La Flesche Picotte had during her lifetime, and beyond. In a time when even the most privileged white women were barred from medicine, and as an American Indian, when opportunities were scarce and laws became ever more restrictive for them, she became a doctor. Decades before Indian Health was a blip on the government’s radar, she opened the first hospital on a reservation. Her services were available for anyone, whether they were a white farmer or an Indian mother. Anyone who was sick was welcome and treated. She broke intersectional barriers as a woman and an American Indian, and flourished in American medical schools, cities, and later back home on her reservation.
When she was a young girl, La Flesche witnessed the death of an older Native American woman. The doctor had been called four time
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Susan La Flesche Picotte
Omaha Indigenous physician and reformer (1865–1915)
Susan La Flesche Picotte | |
|---|---|
Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte | |
| Born | (1865-06-17)June 17, 1865 Omaha Reservation, United States |
| Died | September 18, 1915(1915-09-18) (aged 50) Walthill, Nebraska, United States |
| Nationality | Omaha, Ponca, Iowa, French, and Anglo-American descent |
| Alma mater | Hampton Institute Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania |
| Occupation | Physician |
| Known for | First Indigenous woman to become a physician in the United States |
| Parent(s) | Joseph La Flesche and Mary Gale |
| Relatives | Susette La Flesche (sister) Francis La Flesche (half-brother) |
Susan La Flesche Picotte (June 17, 1865 – September 18, 1915)[1] was a Native American medical doctor and reformer and member of the Omaha tribe. She is widely acknowledged as one of the first Indigenous people, and the first Indigenous woman, to earn a medical degree. She campaigned for publi