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    Susan La Flesche Picotte: Discovering History's Heroes
    Susan La Flesche Picotte: Discovering History's Heroes
    Susan La Flesche Picotte: Discovering History's Heroes
    Ebook92 pages1 hour

    Susan La Flesche Picotte: Discovering History's Heroes

    By Diane Bailey

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    About this ebook

    Jeter Publishing presents a series that celebrates men and women who altered the course of history but may not be as well-known as their counterparts. In this middle grade biography, learn about Susan LaFlesche Picotte, the first Native American woman to earn a medical degree.

    Susan LaFlesche Picotte was the first Native American doctor in the United States and served more than 1,300 patients over 450 square miles in the late 1800s.

    Susan was the daughter of mixed-race (white and Native American) parents, and struggled much of her life with trying to balance the two worlds. As a child, she watched an elderly Omaha Indian woman die on the reservation because no white doctor would come help. When she grew older, Susan attended one of just a handful of medical schools that accepted women, graduating top of her class as the country’s first Native American physician.

    Returning to her native Nebraska, Susan dedicated her life to working with Native American populations, battling epidemics from smallpox to tuberculosis that ravaged reservations during the final decades of the 19th century.

    Blizzards and frigid temperatures were just part of the job for Susan, who took her horse and buggy for house calls no matter what the weather conditions. Before her death in 1915, she also established public health initiatives and even built a hospital.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAladdin
    Release dateMay 4, 2021
    ISBN9781534463325
    Susan La Flesche Picotte: Discovering History's Heroes

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      Book preview

      Susan La Flesche Picotte - Diane Bailey

      Prologue

      A PLEA FOR HELP

      The Omaha woman lay in bed, weak and frail. She was getting sicker and sicker. Her family sent for the doctor, a white man who was in charge of helping the Indians in the Omaha tribe. Please come quickly, they begged. The doctor sent his answer: he would come. The family breathed a sigh of relief. And then they waited.

      Susan La Flesche was worried about the woman, but she was just a little girl. There wasn’t much she could do to help except sit beside the older woman, straighten her covers, and give her sips of water to soothe her parched lips. She could hold the woman’s hand and try to comfort her. But it wasn’t enough. The woman needed a doctor. What was taking him so long?

      As the hours passed and the doctor still did not show up, another message was sent. The woman was getting worse, and she was in terrible pain. Time was running out. She needed help now. Again, the doctor assured them that he was on his way—and again, he didn’t come.

      Twice more during the night, urgent messages flew across the Nebraska plains to the doctor. Four times altogether. Each time he promised to come, but he never did.

      The next morning the woman died.

      Susan was angry with the doctor. His job was to help sick, suffering people—but he hadn’t bothered to help the Omaha woman who’d needed him. To him it wasn’t important that the woman had died. She’d been only an Indian, Susan said later, and [did] not matter.¹

      But the woman had mattered, of course. She’d mattered to her family and her tribe. And she’d mattered to Susan. Susan remembered that sad night for the rest of her life. She promised herself that if she ever got the chance, she wouldn’t let people suffer. Not if she could help them. And she would find a way to help them.

      That was what mattered.

      Susan was an Omaha Indian who lived in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She devoted her life to helping her people however she could. Along the way, she faced a lot of obstacles, but she didn’t get discouraged. She looked for a path around each obstacle—and she usually found one! When Susan was born, the lives of the Omaha were changing fast. Sometimes it was difficult, but Susan was optimistic. She believed that good things could come from those changes. She was always looking toward the future—but she never forgot her past.

      Her goal was to make the lives of the Omaha better. As the country’s first Native American to earn a medical degree, she used her skills to improve their health. She also worked for them to have more rights in a country that sometimes did not treat them well. She didn’t always succeed, but throughout her life, she showed how determination and kindness could change lives.

      1.

      BORN WITH THE BUFFALO

      In June 1865, the Omaha Indians were on the move. They had planted their crops, and in the fall the tribe would return to their reservation to harvest corn, squash, beans, and melons. For a few weeks during the summer, though, they were traveling across the plains, camping in their teepees, hunting for buffalo. The Omaha way of life depended on the buffalo. The animals’ meat would feed the tribe through the winter, and their furry coats would become warm blankets and robes. Their skin was turned into moccasins and teepee coverings.

      In the past, millions of buffalo had roamed the Nebraska prairie. But those herds were dwindling as white men moved into the Great Plains and killed the buffalo. Sometimes it was for food, but more often it was just for sport. Joseph La Flesche, who was also called Iron Eye, was chief of the Omaha tribe. He feared there weren’t many years left when his people would be able to go on their annual summer hunt. What would happen then?

      As these problems stood before the Omaha, though, good news spread through the camp. On June 17, Iron Eye’s wife Mary (also known as One Woman) gave birth to a baby girl. For a little while Joseph set aside his worries. Right now it was time to greet his new daughter.

      Susan La Flesche was born into a big, close family. She already had three older sisters: Susette was eleven, Rosalie was four, and Marguerite was three. (A brother, Louis, had been born in 1848 but had died.)

      Joseph also had a second wife, which was common among the Omaha people. From this marriage Susan had a half brother named Francis, who was seven when Susan was born. Her half sister, Lucy, was born the same year as Susan. Another half brother, Carey, came in 1872, the year Susan turned seven.

      As soon as she was old enough, Susan was expected to help the family in any way she could. She learned how to plant and harvest crops, and how to dry strips of buffalo meat.

      One of her jobs was to carry water from the spring to the house. Susan dreaded that chore! It was a long walk, barefoot over the rough grass, with the sun beating down on her back. And the buckets were heavy!

      But there was plenty of time to play, too. Everyone laughed during the dance of the turkeys, when the children imitated the funny way turkeys poked their necks out. Other times the kids stared at one another until someone cracked a smile. Whoever smiled first lost the game—and got water poured over their head. Susan and her sisters played house in teepees that they built, taking care of dolls made from corncobs and dressed in bits of calico fabric. The sisters rode across the Nebraska prairie on stick ponies they made from the tall stalks of sunflowers.

      Like all other Omaha children, Susan behaved respectfully around her parents and other adults. She knew it was rude to walk in between a person and the flap of the tent, and she knew not to stare at people—especially strangers! She learned to get up quietly, without drawing attention to herself. Of course she never interrupted when the grown-ups were

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