1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how 2 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:13,680 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,079 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Today we're 4 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:20,159 Speaker 1: going to talk about Dr. Susan La Flesh Pecotte. She 5 00:00:20,239 --> 00:00:23,320 Speaker 1: was the first Native American woman to earn a medical degree. 6 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: She also lived at a time when there was a 7 00:00:25,840 --> 00:00:28,280 Speaker 1: lot of change happening in the United States as a 8 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:32,080 Speaker 1: whole and among Native Americans and the Omaha tribe that 9 00:00:32,120 --> 00:00:34,479 Speaker 1: she was part of specifically, So in some ways, we're 10 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:36,480 Speaker 1: kind of looking at the history of this time through 11 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:40,200 Speaker 1: the story of her life. We're definitely not touching on everything, 12 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: but there's a lot that affected tribal life that we're 13 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,519 Speaker 1: going to get into. Susan La Flesh was born on 14 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: June sixty five in what is now Nebraska. Her father 15 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: was Joseph la Flesh, also known as Iron Eye, and 16 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:58,000 Speaker 1: her mother was his first wife, Mary Gail, also called 17 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: One Woman. The Lafle Bushes had four surviving daughters, Suzette, Susan, Rosalie, 18 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,840 Speaker 1: and Marguerite. Joseph also had a son named Francis by 19 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:13,040 Speaker 1: another wife. Both of Susan's grandmother's were native women. Her 20 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: father's father was a French Canadian trader, and her mother's 21 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: father was a U. S Army doctor. Susan's ancestors included 22 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: people from multiple indigenous peoples, including the Omaha, Iowa, and 23 00:01:24,720 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: Ponca tribes, and her father had grown up among several 24 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:31,039 Speaker 1: different tribes and traveled extensively with his father when he 25 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 1: was young as well. But the family was enrolled as Omaha. 26 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,840 Speaker 1: Joseph la Flesh had been adopted by Omaha chief big Elk, 27 00:01:39,200 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: who intended to name Joseph as his successor. When big 28 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: Elk died in eighteen fifties three, Joseph became one of 29 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,600 Speaker 1: the tribes to principal chiefs and was ultimately its last 30 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 1: traditional chief. As I alluded to earlier, Susan grew up 31 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: during a time of huge transition for the Omaha and 32 00:01:56,560 --> 00:01:58,880 Speaker 1: for the other tribes and nations in that part of 33 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: North America. First contact between the Omaha and Europeans was 34 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,280 Speaker 1: probably sometime in the mid late seventeen hundreds. By eighteen 35 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: fifty four, after a series of epidemics, wars, and treaties, 36 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: the Omaha had seeded a lot of their territory to 37 00:02:13,960 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: the United States. They were left with a reservation and 38 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:20,720 Speaker 1: what's now northeastern Nebraska, and that was further reduced in 39 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:22,920 Speaker 1: size in eighteen sixty five, which was the year that 40 00:02:22,960 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 1: Susan was born. Susan's father believed that the only way 41 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 1: the Omaha would survive in the face of all this 42 00:02:29,160 --> 00:02:33,320 Speaker 1: was to selectively adapt to white society while still retaining 43 00:02:33,360 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: as much Omaha culture and identity as possible. This outlook 44 00:02:38,080 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: was why big Elk had chosen him as his successor. 45 00:02:41,600 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: He also thought that the Omaha would be wiped out 46 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: if they didn't adapt, so Susan's parents believed strongly that 47 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: she and her siblings needed to learn to live with 48 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:53,800 Speaker 1: and among white people so they could essentially form a 49 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,639 Speaker 1: bridge between the Omaha and the white world. To that end, 50 00:02:57,880 --> 00:03:00,520 Speaker 1: Joseph and Mary la Flesh didn't give most of their 51 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: children traditional Omaha names, although Susan's oldest sister, Susette, was 52 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: known as Bright Eyes. They weren't given traditional tattoos or 53 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,200 Speaker 1: piercings either, and although Susan had been born in a 54 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,360 Speaker 1: tp during the summer Buffalo hunt, the family lived in 55 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:18,040 Speaker 1: a frame house rather than in the earth lodges that 56 00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: the Omaha had traditionally used since settling in the Missouri 57 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: River region. The La Flesh children also attended a Presbyterian 58 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,240 Speaker 1: mission school on the reservation. Their parents had no formal 59 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,520 Speaker 1: education themselves, and they didn't speak much English, but they 60 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: both stressed how critical it was for Susan and all 61 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,880 Speaker 1: of her siblings to learn and do well. Their parents 62 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: spoke to them in Omaha and French, but among each other, 63 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: the siblings were expected to speak English. Susan started attending 64 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:48,560 Speaker 1: the mission school when she was only three, but she 65 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:51,280 Speaker 1: was there for a year before it was closed down 66 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,360 Speaker 1: in the wake of Ulyss assess Grants peace policy. This 67 00:03:55,680 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: peace policy essentially replaced Indian agents with Christian missionaries. The 68 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 1: policy was based on the mindset that missionary work would 69 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: be less prone to corruption than the previous Indian agent system, 70 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 1: so when the Presbyterian missions school was replaced with a 71 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:16,160 Speaker 1: Quaker day school, the La Flesh children attended that school instead. 72 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:20,240 Speaker 1: Joseph la Flesh's decisions about how the Omaha could survive 73 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: were deeply controversial. The Omaha were divided into what was 74 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: known as the Young Men's Party, which supported the idea 75 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 1: of selective assimilation, and then the Chiefs Party instead advocated 76 00:04:32,279 --> 00:04:36,680 Speaker 1: maintaining Omaha culture and traditions as much as possible. The 77 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: neighborhood that Joseph la Flesh established on their reservation, dominated 78 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 1: by frame houses and individual farms, was nicknamed the Village 79 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: of make Believe White Men. When Susan was eight, she 80 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: had an experience that led to her desire to become 81 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,560 Speaker 1: a doctor. She was helping to care for an Omaha 82 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,160 Speaker 1: woman who was very ill, and they had asked the 83 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: agency doctor, who was white, to come and see her, 84 00:05:00,480 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: but after four messages sent to him, he still had 85 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: not arrived. So Susan sat with this woman as she died, 86 00:05:07,240 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 1: and later she said, quote, it was only an Indian 87 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:13,240 Speaker 1: and it did not matter. The doctor preferred hunting for 88 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: prairie chickens rather than visiting the poor, suffering humanity. Of course, 89 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:20,400 Speaker 1: this was not the only time she saw a need 90 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: for better healthcare on the reservation. As another example, her 91 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:28,560 Speaker 1: father had a leg amputated after an untreated injury, but 92 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: it was what she kept returning to when she talked 93 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: about wanting to become a doctor. In eighteen seventy five, 94 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: when Susan was ten, her older sister Susette returned home 95 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:41,240 Speaker 1: from studying at the Elizabeth Institute for Young Ladies in Elizabeth, 96 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:45,520 Speaker 1: New Jersey. She wanted a job teaching at the reservation school, 97 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: but at first she was told that she wasn't eligible. 98 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: This started an uphill battle in which Suzette unearthed a 99 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,440 Speaker 1: handbook saying that Native teachers were preferred, got permission to 100 00:05:56,520 --> 00:05:59,479 Speaker 1: leave the reservation to take an exam for a teaching certificate, 101 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: and was finally hired as the first Native teacher to 102 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: be employed on the Omaha Reservation. Suzette moved into a 103 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: house near the school, and her sisters moved in with 104 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:11,880 Speaker 1: her so they could all be closer to the school 105 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:15,360 Speaker 1: rather than walking about three miles each way every day. 106 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 1: Suzette was a huge influence on Susan's life as a sister, 107 00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:23,839 Speaker 1: a teacher, and an advocate for Native people's rights. When 108 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:27,799 Speaker 1: Susan was twelve, Susette became an interpreter for Standing Bear, 109 00:06:27,960 --> 00:06:29,880 Speaker 1: who was the chief of the Ponca tribe, and that 110 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:32,920 Speaker 1: is when Suzette became more widely known as Bright Eyes. 111 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:36,279 Speaker 1: The Ponca had been guaranteed reservation land in what is 112 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 1: now Minnesota and South Dakota but in eighteen sixty eight 113 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:43,560 Speaker 1: this territory became part of the Great Sioux Reservation Instead, 114 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:47,440 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy seven, the Ponca were forced into Indian 115 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: Territory and what's now Oklahoma, where they arrived in eighteen 116 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 1: seventy eight. This forced relocation was devastating, and nearly a 117 00:06:55,920 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: third of the Ponca died, including Standing Bear's son and 118 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: Nanuary of eighteen seventy nine, Standing Bear left the reservation 119 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:07,679 Speaker 1: in Indian Territory without permission, intending to take his son's 120 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 1: body back to the Ponca Hoole Land to be buried. 121 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: He and the people who went with him were arrested 122 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:17,200 Speaker 1: and this went to trial and Standing Bear versus Crook. 123 00:07:17,280 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 1: The court found in Standing Bear's favor and ruled that 124 00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:24,120 Speaker 1: he had quote the same inalienable right to life, liberty, 125 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 1: and the pursuit of happiness as the more fortunate white race. 126 00:07:28,400 --> 00:07:31,480 Speaker 1: This was a landmark ruling that established that Native Americans 127 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:35,640 Speaker 1: were considered persons under the law. After this court ruling, 128 00:07:35,840 --> 00:07:38,280 Speaker 1: Standing Bear went on a speaking tour of the eastern 129 00:07:38,400 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: United States to campaign for Native people's rights, and it 130 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: was on this tour that Bright Eyes acted as his 131 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: interpreter and began her life long work advocating for Native 132 00:07:48,080 --> 00:07:51,600 Speaker 1: people's rights. In eighteen seventy nine, when she was fourteen, 133 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: Susan La Flesh left the Omaha Reservation with her younger sister, Marguerite, 134 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: to attend the Elizabeth Institute for Young Ladies, where Bright 135 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,920 Speaker 1: Eyes had also studied. Three years later, she returned home again, 136 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 1: following in her older sister's footsteps, to teach, this time 137 00:08:06,280 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 1: at the Presbyterian Mission School on the reservation, which had 138 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: reopened while she was away. That year. Eighteen eighty two 139 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,760 Speaker 1: brought more major changes to the Omaha, and we were 140 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: going to talk all about that after we first have 141 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. From a teen eight two to eighteen 142 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 1: eighty four, Susan La Flesh was a teacher on the 143 00:08:31,480 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: Omaha Reservation and during that time, as I alluded to 144 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:38,160 Speaker 1: before the break, once again the tribe underwent some major 145 00:08:38,400 --> 00:08:42,040 Speaker 1: changes relating to tribal lands. We talked before the break 146 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: about how the Ponca had been forced out of reservation 147 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:47,679 Speaker 1: land that was supposed to be there's. This was mainly 148 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: due to a combination of mismanagement, error, and bureaucracy, but 149 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,680 Speaker 1: it had raised concerns that something similar could happen to 150 00:08:55,720 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: the Omaha, especially in the face of the ongoing land 151 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:01,760 Speaker 1: rush in that part of North Aerica, and that became 152 00:09:01,800 --> 00:09:04,559 Speaker 1: one of the motivations for a system of land allotment 153 00:09:04,679 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: among the Omaha. The basic idea was that the reservation 154 00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:12,520 Speaker 1: land would be divided up and apportioned to individual families 155 00:09:12,559 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 1: and individual people instead of being held collectively by the 156 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:20,440 Speaker 1: Omaha tribe. These individual allotments would be held in trust 157 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: for twenty five years, and during that time the people 158 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: who had received them were supposed to demonstrate that they 159 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: had the means to keep up with it and to 160 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,840 Speaker 1: support themselves. Then, after twenty five years, if they had 161 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:34,680 Speaker 1: demonstrated that they were competent that was the term that 162 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:36,599 Speaker 1: was used to describe this ability to keep up with 163 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: the land and to basically function, then the land would 164 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,320 Speaker 1: be theirs to do with as they wished. In theory, 165 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: this would keep the Omaha from losing their land because 166 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:48,360 Speaker 1: it would be owned by individual tribal members rather than 167 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: subject to treaties with the U. S Government, which did 168 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:54,440 Speaker 1: not have the greatest history of being fair or being 169 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 1: upheld fairly, and it would also continue to encourage assimilation 170 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,120 Speaker 1: with white American culture with the greater United States economy, 171 00:10:02,559 --> 00:10:04,360 Speaker 1: which was one of the goals of the Bureau of 172 00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: Indian Affairs policy at that points to maybe a lesser extent, 173 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,520 Speaker 1: one of the goals of tribal leadership at this point, 174 00:10:12,559 --> 00:10:14,960 Speaker 1: like we said earlier, and the idea of like selective 175 00:10:15,120 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: assimilation as a means for survival. So this whole idea 176 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:21,720 Speaker 1: was put into practice in the Omaha Allotment Act of 177 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,400 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two, and that made the Omaha one of 178 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:27,439 Speaker 1: the first indigenous tribes in the United States to receive 179 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:32,080 Speaker 1: individual allotments of land. And this was once again extremely 180 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 1: controversial within the tribe. About a third of the tribe 181 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: were very vocally opposed to it. I mean, this was 182 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:41,719 Speaker 1: a total shift and how they approached the idea of 183 00:10:41,760 --> 00:10:45,080 Speaker 1: the land that they were on. Joseph la Flesh was 184 00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:48,280 Speaker 1: in favor of it, was a huge advocate for it, 185 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: and about a quarter of the tribe supported him. Another 186 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: advocate of this idea of individual land apportionment was Alice 187 00:10:55,920 --> 00:10:59,800 Speaker 1: Cunningham Fletcher of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology 188 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:04,120 Speaker 1: at Harvard University. Fletcher had been living with and studying 189 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:08,040 Speaker 1: the Omaha. Susan's half brother, Francis, had initially been one 190 00:11:08,040 --> 00:11:11,000 Speaker 1: of her informants during her ethnology work with the tribe, 191 00:11:11,480 --> 00:11:15,160 Speaker 1: later becoming her collaborator and an ethnologist in his own right. 192 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:19,000 Speaker 1: The two of them wrote The Omaha Tribe together, which 193 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: was published in nineteen eleven and continues to be regarded 194 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:25,440 Speaker 1: as one of the most important and comprehensive works on 195 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:29,960 Speaker 1: Omaha history and culture. Ultimately, Francis La Flesh was something 196 00:11:30,040 --> 00:11:33,600 Speaker 1: of an adopted son to Alice Fletcher. They have the 197 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 1: whole other story that's beyond the scope of this podcast, 198 00:11:38,080 --> 00:11:41,160 Speaker 1: But the point is that there were advocates of this 199 00:11:41,200 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: whole system among the Omaha and among people who had 200 00:11:44,679 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: lived and worked with the Omaha. They genuinely thought that 201 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:50,600 Speaker 1: this was going to be good for the tribe and 202 00:11:50,600 --> 00:11:53,360 Speaker 1: that it was for the best. But there were definitely 203 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,800 Speaker 1: also other people advocating this whole system who were motivated 204 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 1: by greed and frankly racism. Once the reservation land had 205 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:05,760 Speaker 1: been divided up and allotted out to the Omaha, the 206 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:09,200 Speaker 1: unallotted land, basically land that was left over, would be 207 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:13,079 Speaker 1: up for sale to anybody regardless of the motivation. Though, 208 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:16,679 Speaker 1: this whole system of apportionment turned out to be just 209 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:20,439 Speaker 1: disastrous for the Omaha. Some of the allotments were more 210 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:24,000 Speaker 1: conducive to farming than others. A lot of people leased 211 00:12:24,040 --> 00:12:26,920 Speaker 1: their allotted land rather than farming it themselves, but they 212 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:29,440 Speaker 1: didn't ever earn enough and rent to do much more 213 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:33,400 Speaker 1: than just subsist. Leasing land often became the first step 214 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:35,679 Speaker 1: to losing it. Once the land came out of trust, 215 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 1: community ties broke down, as work that had been done 216 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:42,640 Speaker 1: collaboratively at one point was instead supposed to be done 217 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:46,680 Speaker 1: by each individual farmer on their individual farm. All of 218 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:50,760 Speaker 1: this combined with changes to laws regulating alcohol, and as 219 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: a consequence, alcoholism surged on the reservation. This whole process 220 00:12:55,679 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 1: would be repeated on a much greater scale, involving many 221 00:12:58,840 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 1: more tribes the DAWs Act of eighteen eighty seven, which 222 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:07,000 Speaker 1: had similarly devastating results. In July of eighteen eighty three, 223 00:13:07,040 --> 00:13:10,720 Speaker 1: as this whole shift was happening, Alice Cunningham Fletcher became 224 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:14,720 Speaker 1: very ill with what was described as inflammatory rheumatism, and 225 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:16,800 Speaker 1: Susan La Flash was one of the people who took 226 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: care of her while she was sick. After being cared 227 00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:23,800 Speaker 1: for by Susan La Flesh, Fletcher encouraged her to go 228 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 1: back to school and study medicine. Since the Elizabeth Institute 229 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 1: for Young Ladies was more of a finishing school than 230 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:34,160 Speaker 1: preparation for college, Susan's first step was to enroll at 231 00:13:34,160 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute. The Hampton Institute had 232 00:13:38,600 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 1: been founded in eighteen sixty eight by General Samuel Armstrong. 233 00:13:42,200 --> 00:13:45,920 Speaker 1: It was initially created to educate formerly enslaved people after 234 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: the Civil War. It began also enrolling Native students in 235 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:53,600 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy eight, with a goal of quote civilizing and 236 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:57,040 Speaker 1: assimilating Native students. It's going to come up again later 237 00:13:57,040 --> 00:13:59,280 Speaker 1: in the episode, but we have a two part podcast 238 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:03,599 Speaker 1: about the system of boarding schools that was used to 239 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:07,319 Speaker 1: similar purpose, and this was basically the same idea but 240 00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 1: for adults, and Susan arrived there in eighteen eighty four 241 00:14:11,320 --> 00:14:14,719 Speaker 1: at the age of nineteen. She graduated second in her 242 00:14:14,760 --> 00:14:18,280 Speaker 1: class on May twenty eight six and was also awarded 243 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:23,240 Speaker 1: the Demorest Gold Medal for academic achievement. Hampton Institute's resident physician, 244 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:27,000 Speaker 1: Martha Waldron, had encouraged La Flesh to study medicine at 245 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:30,360 Speaker 1: the Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania, which had been established 246 00:14:30,360 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty. She applied and was accepted, but it 247 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:37,200 Speaker 1: turned out that the school's scholarship fund had already been 248 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 1: allocated for the year and she did not have the 249 00:14:39,880 --> 00:14:43,680 Speaker 1: money to pay for her tuition. Alice Cunningham Fletcher helped 250 00:14:43,760 --> 00:14:47,880 Speaker 1: La Flesh get funding to attend medical school. One source 251 00:14:47,920 --> 00:14:51,400 Speaker 1: of funds was the Connecticut Indian Association, which was a 252 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 1: branch of the Women's National Indian Association. This association had 253 00:14:56,400 --> 00:14:59,960 Speaker 1: originally been formed as the Indian Committee of the Women's 254 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,080 Speaker 1: Whole Mission Society, and it had been formed in response 255 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 1: to the removal of the Ponca tribe to Indian territory 256 00:15:06,040 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 1: that we talked about earlier in the show. Many of 257 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:13,320 Speaker 1: the organization's members were former abolitionists, and their original mission 258 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,360 Speaker 1: was to advocate for the United States to respect and 259 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:20,040 Speaker 1: uphold its treaties with Native peoples, as well as quote 260 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: protection for Indians and their lands from the robberies and 261 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,040 Speaker 1: horrors of enforced removals. By the time La Flesh was 262 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,160 Speaker 1: trying to get funding for medical school, the Connecticut Indian 263 00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:34,440 Speaker 1: Association's mission had shifted a little bit. Their overall goal 264 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: was the recognition of Native people as having full and 265 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,720 Speaker 1: equal human rights, but also in such a way that 266 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: they would ultimately be Christianized and assimilated into white society. 267 00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 1: They did a lot of petitioning, holding public meetings and lectures, 268 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 1: distributing educational materials, and establishing missions. When it came to 269 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:58,600 Speaker 1: La Flesh's education, the Connecticut Indian Association raised funds among 270 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,920 Speaker 1: its members. The also appealed for donations through the Hartford Current. 271 00:16:03,560 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: The Current printed several letters related to this fundraising effort. 272 00:16:07,480 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: One was from General Armstrong, and that letter described La 273 00:16:10,600 --> 00:16:14,440 Speaker 1: Flesh as quote a level headed, earnest, capable Christian woman 274 00:16:14,560 --> 00:16:18,360 Speaker 1: quite equal to medical studies. Another letter was from La 275 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: Flesh herself, and it's said, in part quote, I feel 276 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:23,360 Speaker 1: that as a physician I can do a great deal 277 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:26,440 Speaker 1: more than as a mere teacher. For the home is 278 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:29,560 Speaker 1: the foundation of all things for the Indians, and my 279 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: work I hope will be chiefly in the homes of 280 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 1: my people. These funds were supplemented with money from the U. 281 00:16:36,120 --> 00:16:39,680 Speaker 1: S Office of Indian Affairs. The office granted La Flesh 282 00:16:39,760 --> 00:16:42,320 Speaker 1: a hundred and sixty seven dollars a year, the same 283 00:16:42,360 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 1: amount that it subsidized for students at one of the 284 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 1: Indian boarding schools. As Tracy mentioned earlier, UH we talked 285 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: about these schools in our Our Fork Show two parter. 286 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:57,640 Speaker 1: UH that again was meant to Christianize Native students and 287 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:01,200 Speaker 1: get them away instead from their native culture. And this 288 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: funding from the Office of Indian Affairs made La Flesh 289 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:07,520 Speaker 1: the first student to receive federal aid to go to college. 290 00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:11,520 Speaker 1: Susan La Flesh started medical school in October of eighteen 291 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:15,360 Speaker 1: eighty six, and her relationship with the Connecticut Indian Association 292 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:18,919 Speaker 1: continued throughout that time and after her time in med school, 293 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:22,400 Speaker 1: she referred to them as her second Connecticut mother's. La 294 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:25,879 Speaker 1: Flesh enjoyed and excelled at her medical studies, and she 295 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,000 Speaker 1: persevered after the death of her father on September twenty 296 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:34,119 Speaker 1: three eight. She graduated as valedictorian on March fourteenth of 297 00:17:34,119 --> 00:17:37,280 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty nine, making her the first Native American woman 298 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:40,840 Speaker 1: to earn a medical degree in the United States. She 299 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 1: went on a speaking tour of several other branches of 300 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:47,879 Speaker 1: the National Women's Indian Association, basically to recruit other women 301 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:51,200 Speaker 1: to the same cause as her Connecticut mother's, and then 302 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:54,880 Speaker 1: after spending a few months finishing an internship in Philadelphia, 303 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,439 Speaker 1: she returned home to the Omaha Reservation to begin working 304 00:17:58,480 --> 00:18:00,879 Speaker 1: as a doctor. It's talk about her time as a 305 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:11,360 Speaker 1: doctor after a sponsor break. When Susan the Flesh returned 306 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:14,560 Speaker 1: to the Omaha Reservation, she was initially hired as the 307 00:18:14,640 --> 00:18:17,960 Speaker 1: doctor for the reservations boarding school. She was paid a 308 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:20,639 Speaker 1: salary of five hundred dollars, which was a fraction of 309 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:23,840 Speaker 1: what male doctors and similar positions were being paid. The 310 00:18:23,840 --> 00:18:28,320 Speaker 1: Connecticut Indian Association supplemented this by also making her their 311 00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:31,240 Speaker 1: medical missionary, so they paid her an additional two hundred 312 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:33,639 Speaker 1: and fifty dollars a year, and they also bought her 313 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:37,120 Speaker 1: surgical tools for her. At first, some of her patients 314 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 1: didn't entirely trust her. She spoke English, and she had 315 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:44,439 Speaker 1: spent years away from the reservation being educated by and 316 00:18:44,560 --> 00:18:48,000 Speaker 1: with white people. She had also been a devout Christian 317 00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 1: since her early years at a mission school on the reservation. 318 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,879 Speaker 1: But she quickly demonstrated that she was a competent, capable, compassionate, 319 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:59,639 Speaker 1: and dedicated doctor. Soon she was known as Doctor Sue, 320 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: and adult patients were asking to see her, even though 321 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,239 Speaker 1: she was only supposed to be treating the children at 322 00:19:05,240 --> 00:19:08,840 Speaker 1: the school. In January of eighteen ninety, the Omaha Agency's 323 00:19:08,840 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: white doctor resigned, in part because all of his patients 324 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:15,159 Speaker 1: were asking to see Dr. Sue instead. La Flesh was 325 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,639 Speaker 1: appointed as the official Bureau of Indian Affairs physician for 326 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:22,119 Speaker 1: the entire Omaha Agency, and this made her the first 327 00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,840 Speaker 1: woman to be appointed to one of these positions and 328 00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:28,199 Speaker 1: one of the first Native people. She was responsible for 329 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 1: the health and wellness of more than twelve hundred people 330 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:34,640 Speaker 1: for the next four years. They were spread out over 331 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,320 Speaker 1: more than thirteen hundred square miles or thirty three square 332 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:42,320 Speaker 1: collameters of territory. She was only twenty four. She did 333 00:19:42,480 --> 00:19:44,840 Speaker 1: exactly as she said she hoped to do in that 334 00:19:44,920 --> 00:19:47,919 Speaker 1: letter that had been published in the Hartford Current. She 335 00:19:48,119 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 1: visited patients in their homes, seeing to their health and wellness. 336 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: She treated illnesses and injuries, assisted with complicated deliveries, and 337 00:19:56,640 --> 00:20:00,560 Speaker 1: counseled people on their health and hygiene. The fall in 338 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,960 Speaker 1: winter of eight eight ninety two and influenza epidemic struck 339 00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: and she saw more than six hundred patients, often traveling 340 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:10,960 Speaker 1: on foot or by horse and buggy in temperatures that 341 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:16,240 Speaker 1: were well below zero degrees fahrenheit that's minus eighteen celsius. 342 00:20:16,280 --> 00:20:21,879 Speaker 1: She also campaigned aggressively for temperance over her lifetime. Laws 343 00:20:21,960 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 1: related to the sale of alcohol on reservations or to 344 00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: Native people changed a number of times. Her father had 345 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,560 Speaker 1: also campaigned for temperance before she was born and while 346 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:35,359 Speaker 1: she was young, including establishing an Omaha police force to 347 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 1: try to cut down on bootlegging. She really saw alcoholism 348 00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,000 Speaker 1: as a huge, huge problem on the reservation, and she 349 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:45,919 Speaker 1: campaigned stridently for prohibition. She also did a lot of 350 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:50,280 Speaker 1: work that wasn't strictly related to medicine. She settled disputes, 351 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:53,960 Speaker 1: she offered financial advice, and she just generally counseled people. 352 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,600 Speaker 1: She helped patients who didn't read or write English with 353 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 1: correspondence and legal matters, and when people didn't understand the 354 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:04,479 Speaker 1: terms of their land allotment, she helped to explain it. 355 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,000 Speaker 1: She was part doctor, part teacher, part social worker, and 356 00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:12,640 Speaker 1: part mediator, something that continued the whole time she practiced medicine. 357 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: A lot of people describe her as having sort of 358 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 1: one foot in each world where she was able to 359 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,679 Speaker 1: make all of these connections with people on the reservation. 360 00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:25,960 Speaker 1: Because she spoke Omaha fluently, she spoke other native languages 361 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 1: as well while also speaking English, and she was able 362 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,479 Speaker 1: to do what her father had wanted for his children 363 00:21:31,480 --> 00:21:34,440 Speaker 1: to do, which was to form this bridge. But then 364 00:21:34,440 --> 00:21:39,439 Speaker 1: in La Flesh's mother got seriously ill. Susan had been 365 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:41,960 Speaker 1: struggling with her own health. She had a series of 366 00:21:42,000 --> 00:21:46,040 Speaker 1: chronic and sometimes severe illnesses. She had ongoing issues with 367 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:48,960 Speaker 1: neck pain, earaches, and headaches which might have been caused 368 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:53,320 Speaker 1: by osteomyelitis. Susan made several requests to be allowed time 369 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:55,520 Speaker 1: off to take care of her mother, and these were 370 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:59,560 Speaker 1: repeatedly denied, and she finally resigned as the agency doctor 371 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 1: so that she could take care of her mother. On October, 372 00:22:04,160 --> 00:22:07,080 Speaker 1: and while caring for her mother, Susan La Flesh met 373 00:22:07,080 --> 00:22:11,480 Speaker 1: Henry Pocott. His brother Charles had married her sister Marguerite, 374 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:13,640 Speaker 1: and Henry had come to help on their farm while 375 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:17,600 Speaker 1: Charles was sick and dying. Susan and Henry started a 376 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:22,480 Speaker 1: relationship and they got married on June. This was a 377 00:22:22,560 --> 00:22:25,320 Speaker 1: surprise to a lot of people in Susan's life and 378 00:22:25,400 --> 00:22:29,199 Speaker 1: not necessarily a welcome one to all of them. She 379 00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:32,440 Speaker 1: had often called herself an old maid. When the Connecticut 380 00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,920 Speaker 1: Indian Association had agreed to help pay for her medical education, 381 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 1: she had promised them that she would put off marriage 382 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:42,280 Speaker 1: and dedicate herself to her medical practice. And even before 383 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:44,760 Speaker 1: she had accepted their help with tuition, she had really 384 00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:46,520 Speaker 1: felt that marriage would get in the way of her 385 00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 1: plans to become a doctor, and returned to her community 386 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:52,200 Speaker 1: to practice medicine. This had led her to break off 387 00:22:52,240 --> 00:22:55,359 Speaker 1: a relationship with a young man named Thomas Kinney Copy 388 00:22:55,680 --> 00:22:58,560 Speaker 1: or t I, who she had met at Hampton Institute. 389 00:22:58,680 --> 00:23:02,480 Speaker 1: Susan and Henry were all so very different. Susan was 390 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:05,720 Speaker 1: the daughter of an Omaha chief and a doctor. Henry 391 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 1: was yanked in Sue, and he had very little formal 392 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:11,800 Speaker 1: education and a limited ability to read and write. But 393 00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:14,040 Speaker 1: Susan had fallen in love with him, and in the 394 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:16,399 Speaker 1: face of her mother's illness and the deaths of t 395 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:19,479 Speaker 1: I and her sister's husband, she seems to have just 396 00:23:19,520 --> 00:23:22,960 Speaker 1: decided that life was simply too short. The Connecticut Indian 397 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:26,080 Speaker 1: Association responded to the news of her engagement and her 398 00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:30,959 Speaker 1: wedding with concerned kind of in air quotes letters, along 399 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: with a write up in their newsletter that read, in 400 00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 1: part quote, since her health and home restrictions do not 401 00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:40,440 Speaker 1: permit her longer engagement in actual medical practice, we must 402 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,920 Speaker 1: bury any regret at our loss and trust that her bright, 403 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:47,119 Speaker 1: intelligent spirit will shed its light upon the new life 404 00:23:47,119 --> 00:23:50,720 Speaker 1: and surroundings opening before her. But Susan La Flesh Piccott 405 00:23:50,800 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: did not stay away from medical practice for long. She 406 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:57,000 Speaker 1: and her mother both recovered, and she and Henry moved 407 00:23:57,040 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: to an allotment of land they secured in Bancroft, Nebraska. 408 00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,320 Speaker 1: Susan set up a medical office in their home, and 409 00:24:03,359 --> 00:24:05,359 Speaker 1: she left a lantern in the window at night so 410 00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,560 Speaker 1: patients could find her whenever they needed her. She also 411 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:12,000 Speaker 1: became the Omaha Reservation Field Matron, which was a Bureau 412 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:15,200 Speaker 1: of Indian Affairs position sort of like a mobile home 413 00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:19,879 Speaker 1: economics teacher. Field Matrons, who also included both Anglo and 414 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 1: Native women, were part of the Bureau of Indian Affairs 415 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:27,000 Speaker 1: efforts to assimilate the native population, so they taught Victorians 416 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:31,320 Speaker 1: so called civilized methods of homemaking to women in Native communities. 417 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:35,639 Speaker 1: Susan and Henry had two children together, Pierre and Carol, 418 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: and when they were babies, Susan took them on house 419 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: calls with her because by this point many of her 420 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,200 Speaker 1: patients refused to see any other doctor. When the children 421 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:47,560 Speaker 1: got older, she sent them to Nebraska Military Academy because 422 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,160 Speaker 1: she wanted them to have the same sort of education 423 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:52,280 Speaker 1: that she did, which she thought would allow them to 424 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:56,000 Speaker 1: live in the white world. During her time in private practice, 425 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 1: Becott spent as much time advocating for public health on 426 00:24:59,359 --> 00:25:03,159 Speaker 1: the Omaha Servation as she did treating individual patients. She 427 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:07,680 Speaker 1: campaigned for tuberculosis prevention, temperance, house flack control, and getting 428 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:11,200 Speaker 1: rid of common cups at pumps and other water sources. 429 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:15,520 Speaker 1: Health reformers elsewhere in the United States were also campaigning 430 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:18,919 Speaker 1: for these basic things, but Pecott was doing this basically 431 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:22,199 Speaker 1: all by herself. She was really at the forefront of 432 00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:27,040 Speaker 1: the idea of public health among Native communities. In nineteen 433 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 1: o three, Susan's sister, Suzette now Suzette Laflesh Tibbles died, 434 00:25:32,520 --> 00:25:35,199 Speaker 1: and then in nineteen o five, Henry Pocott died at 435 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:38,919 Speaker 1: the age of forty five. He had tuberculosis, which was 436 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:44,399 Speaker 1: worsened by alcoholism. Susan was just forty before her husband's death. 437 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,000 Speaker 1: Susan the Flesh Pacott had typically worked from the assumption 438 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 1: that the federal government and it's Indian agents were at 439 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,200 Speaker 1: least trying to operate with Native people's best interests in mind. 440 00:25:54,600 --> 00:25:56,119 Speaker 1: I mean, you can tell from what she's done in 441 00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:58,880 Speaker 1: her life so far that she agreed with her father 442 00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,840 Speaker 1: and the idea that there needed to be some selective assimilation. 443 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 1: And she seems to have just sort of thought that 444 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,960 Speaker 1: people were trying to work with everyone's best interests. But 445 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:13,760 Speaker 1: that opinion really started to shift after her husband's death. 446 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,480 Speaker 1: One reason was that he had left their children and inheritance, 447 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:20,520 Speaker 1: but government officials were trying to give a distant male 448 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:24,040 Speaker 1: relative control over it while trying to get control of 449 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:27,439 Speaker 1: her son's money. She wrote a letter saying, quote, it 450 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 1: is strange that I, a mother and one who has 451 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,960 Speaker 1: worked hard to support herself and children and bitterly opposed 452 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:37,040 Speaker 1: to whiskey in any form, should be denied the right 453 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:39,439 Speaker 1: to care for her children's money, and it should be 454 00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:41,560 Speaker 1: given into the care of a man who is a 455 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,840 Speaker 1: hard drinker, and who has seen these children only once 456 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,520 Speaker 1: in his life, and who resides in another state. Some 457 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,679 Speaker 1: of her other opinions were shifting as well. As we 458 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:55,320 Speaker 1: said earlier, Susan was a devout Christian and her father 459 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 1: had converted to Christianity during his time as chief as well. 460 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:01,560 Speaker 1: Joseph of Flesh had made it a point not to 461 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: proselytize and not to discourage traditional Omaha ceremonies and observances 462 00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,080 Speaker 1: like he wanted the Omaha to retain as much of 463 00:27:09,119 --> 00:27:12,720 Speaker 1: their cultural identity as possible, and Susan had mostly done 464 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:15,359 Speaker 1: the same, but she had definitely talked about things like 465 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:19,600 Speaker 1: temperance from a very Christian viewpoint. So when the religious 466 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:23,760 Speaker 1: use of payote started to become more popular among the Omaha, 467 00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:27,760 Speaker 1: at first, Pacott was vocally against it, but that changed 468 00:27:27,840 --> 00:27:31,080 Speaker 1: after her husband's death, especially as she began to hear 469 00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: from people that payotism had helped them to give up 470 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: alcohol and to reconnect with their traditional beliefs and practices. 471 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,639 Speaker 1: She ultimately advocated against laws outlawing payote use, especially in 472 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: the context of Native American religion. In nineteen o nine, 473 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: the Department of the Interior made a number of new 474 00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:54,159 Speaker 1: policies that related to the Omaha without actually consulting the 475 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:58,000 Speaker 1: Omaha on any of them. One was that they consolidated 476 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:01,800 Speaker 1: the Omaha and Winnebago agencys, and that gave agency doctors 477 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 1: and other officials a lot more territory and people to 478 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:08,720 Speaker 1: try to cover. Pacott wrote a number of letters explaining 479 00:28:08,760 --> 00:28:11,520 Speaker 1: the strain that this merger would put on the people 480 00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:15,479 Speaker 1: who were working in these agencies. They also revisited the 481 00:28:15,520 --> 00:28:18,800 Speaker 1: trust period that had been outlined in the Omaha Allotment 482 00:28:18,840 --> 00:28:24,000 Speaker 1: Act of two. That twenty five year trust period was expiring, 483 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:26,160 Speaker 1: which meant that people who had been on their land 484 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:29,199 Speaker 1: for twenty five years were supposed to be evaluated for 485 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: their competence, and if they were competent, the land was 486 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:36,240 Speaker 1: supposed to be theirs. Competence under this definition included things 487 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 1: like self sufficiency and the ability to speak English. But 488 00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,920 Speaker 1: instead of starting the evaluation process, the government added ten 489 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,720 Speaker 1: more years to the timeline across the board. Dr Pacott 490 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,400 Speaker 1: was selected to lead the Omaha Tribal delegation to Washington, 491 00:28:51,520 --> 00:28:53,840 Speaker 1: d C. To try to address all of these policies 492 00:28:53,840 --> 00:28:57,720 Speaker 1: and issues. Her mother had died that year. She was 493 00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:00,680 Speaker 1: also very ill, and so she had started off not 494 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:02,800 Speaker 1: by planning to go in person, but by writing a 495 00:29:02,840 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: lot of letters to government officials, but when people told 496 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,520 Speaker 1: her they were going to carry her bodily to the 497 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,200 Speaker 1: train if she didn't go herself, she went to Washington 498 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 1: in person with the delegation. She and three other members 499 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:18,360 Speaker 1: of the delegation spent about three weeks there, including appearing 500 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:21,040 Speaker 1: before the Secretary of the Interior and the United States 501 00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:24,120 Speaker 1: Attorney General. A big focus of the meeting was the 502 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:27,680 Speaker 1: land allotment. In one meeting, Pacott said quote, we have 503 00:29:27,800 --> 00:29:31,560 Speaker 1: suffered enough from your experiments. We are weary of hardships, 504 00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:35,000 Speaker 1: needlessly endured. We have been practically robbed of our rights 505 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:38,800 Speaker 1: by the government. Therefore, in the name of justice and humanity, 506 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 1: and because we want to become a self reliant, independent, 507 00:29:42,440 --> 00:29:46,440 Speaker 1: self sustaining people, we ask for a more liberal interpretation 508 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:50,120 Speaker 1: of the law. So, in one way this delegation was successful. 509 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:54,360 Speaker 1: The Competency Commission did reverse that decision to just add 510 00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:57,480 Speaker 1: a blanket ten years to the trust period across the board, 511 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:01,520 Speaker 1: But in another way it wasn't. Government was once again 512 00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:04,680 Speaker 1: under huge pressure from people who wanted to be able 513 00:30:04,720 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 1: to buy the land in question, and local governments were 514 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:11,520 Speaker 1: really eager for the land to be released because that 515 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:14,360 Speaker 1: would make it part of the local tax base. So 516 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,760 Speaker 1: instead of actually examining the competence of all the people 517 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:21,880 Speaker 1: who had been allotted land, the Competency Commission just approved 518 00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:26,000 Speaker 1: the release of hundreds of allotments, including ones that belonged 519 00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: to people who had specifically said they were not ready. 520 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:33,800 Speaker 1: This was once again disastrous, and over the next five years, 521 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:36,959 Speaker 1: the vast majority of people who had received land allotments 522 00:30:37,000 --> 00:30:41,200 Speaker 1: lost their land. In Pacott completed a project that had 523 00:30:41,240 --> 00:30:45,840 Speaker 1: been a lifelong dream. She opened a hospital in Walt Hill, Nebraska. 524 00:30:46,480 --> 00:30:49,120 Speaker 1: This was the first hospital on a reservation that wasn't 525 00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,880 Speaker 1: funded by government money. Pacott used her own money and 526 00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:56,440 Speaker 1: raised the money she didn't have herself. In addition to 527 00:30:57,000 --> 00:31:00,280 Speaker 1: general patient wards, the hospital also had a maternity ward 528 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:04,000 Speaker 1: and an operating room. But sadly, Susan La Flesh Picott 529 00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:07,440 Speaker 1: didn't live very long after her hospital was opened. She 530 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:10,280 Speaker 1: had been having trouble with pain in her head, neck 531 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:13,200 Speaker 1: and ears for years. We talked about it earlier on 532 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: the show, and this pain got cyclically worse. She also 533 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:19,600 Speaker 1: progressively lost her hearing, and in nineteen fourteen she had 534 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:23,040 Speaker 1: a series of operations which did alleviate some of the pain. 535 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:27,160 Speaker 1: But also revealed that she probably had bone cancer. Doctors 536 00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,360 Speaker 1: tried every treatment they could think of, including using a 537 00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:33,320 Speaker 1: radium pellet that was sent by Marie Curie on request 538 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:36,920 Speaker 1: from Susan's brother in law. Susan La Flesh Piccott died 539 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:41,480 Speaker 1: on September eighteenth, nineteen fifteen. Her funeral was conducted by 540 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:45,480 Speaker 1: three Presbyterian ministers, with an Omaha elder giving the final prayer. 541 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:49,040 Speaker 1: She was buried next to her late husband. She was 542 00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:52,440 Speaker 1: only fifty when she died, so this is an incredible 543 00:31:52,480 --> 00:31:55,280 Speaker 1: amount that she was able to accomplish in a relatively 544 00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:59,640 Speaker 1: short life. The hospital she established continued to operate until 545 00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:03,200 Speaker 1: the ninety forties, and the building still exists today. It's 546 00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:07,000 Speaker 1: on the National Register of Historic Places. A large scale 547 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:11,080 Speaker 1: fundraising effort started in early eighteen to try to restore 548 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,480 Speaker 1: and preserve the building, and the Omaha tribe are included 549 00:32:14,520 --> 00:32:18,640 Speaker 1: in the preservation efforts. In late June of eighteen, it 550 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:22,160 Speaker 1: was named one of the United states eleven most Endangered 551 00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 1: Historic Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and 552 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 1: Pocott Elementary School in Omaha is also named for her. 553 00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:34,120 Speaker 1: There's also a really lovely documentary called Medicine Woman, which 554 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,760 Speaker 1: weaves Susan La flesh picott story with the stories of 555 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:40,720 Speaker 1: a group of Omaha, Lakota and Navajo women who have 556 00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,400 Speaker 1: become doctors and surgeons and healers. And one of the 557 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:46,880 Speaker 1: things that they talk about is how Susan La flesh 558 00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:49,640 Speaker 1: Picott has become a role model and an inspiration for 559 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:52,560 Speaker 1: young Native women, both for people who want to go 560 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: into healthcare and wellness and then also just in terms 561 00:32:55,440 --> 00:33:00,720 Speaker 1: of self determination, perseverance um. According to the PBS website, 562 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:03,960 Speaker 1: this documentary is going to be re airing on PBS 563 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:07,600 Speaker 1: and November. I don't know the specific date or whether 564 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,680 Speaker 1: it will have passed by the time this episode is out. 565 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:14,200 Speaker 1: You can also find it online. But I really I'm 566 00:33:14,320 --> 00:33:17,400 Speaker 1: very fascinated by Susan A. Flesh Picott because it's she 567 00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:21,840 Speaker 1: occupied the whole, like one foot in each world. Description 568 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:24,440 Speaker 1: that a lot of people have used of her applies 569 00:33:24,840 --> 00:33:27,000 Speaker 1: not just to the fact of the fact that she 570 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:30,760 Speaker 1: went to medical school and she had like a formal 571 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:35,120 Speaker 1: education and was also the daughter of a chief, but 572 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:38,000 Speaker 1: also the fact that, like the way she approached the 573 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:41,400 Speaker 1: world was sort of about trying to carve out a 574 00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 1: place for herself and for the Greater Omaha tribe while 575 00:33:45,400 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 1: still trying to survive in a world that was not 576 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:55,320 Speaker 1: really conducive to a lot of more traditional tribal beliefs 577 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,720 Speaker 1: and practices and observances. So she's kind of a complicated 578 00:33:58,720 --> 00:34:03,400 Speaker 1: and fascinating figure that way. Well, And I wonder what 579 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:06,160 Speaker 1: it must have been like for her to have, for 580 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:09,680 Speaker 1: quite some time put her trust in what she believed 581 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:12,560 Speaker 1: to be the good intentions of people, yeah, in the 582 00:34:12,600 --> 00:34:14,640 Speaker 1: government and that she was working with, and then to 583 00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:18,640 Speaker 1: realize that that trust was not necessarily given always to 584 00:34:18,680 --> 00:34:21,440 Speaker 1: the correct people. Yeah. And you can tell in some 585 00:34:21,560 --> 00:34:24,040 Speaker 1: of her writing that the older she got and the 586 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:27,920 Speaker 1: more experience that she had dealing directly with like a 587 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:30,719 Speaker 1: government agents and policy and that kind of stuff, she 588 00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:33,560 Speaker 1: you can tell that she was sort of loose, like 589 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:37,080 Speaker 1: she had been so patient and she she was reaching 590 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:40,719 Speaker 1: the end of her patients for some of those elements 591 00:34:41,160 --> 00:34:43,799 Speaker 1: of what was going on in the world that she 592 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 1: was living in. But seriously, like, still, what an accomplishment 593 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:50,759 Speaker 1: to start your own hospital at the age of I 594 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:54,560 Speaker 1: think forty eight when she finished the hospital. So I 595 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:56,239 Speaker 1: gotta get right to work on that if I'm going 596 00:34:56,280 --> 00:35:00,720 Speaker 1: to do anything close to I would know rechieve anything 597 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:04,000 Speaker 1: close to it. So, uh, do you have any listener 598 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:06,920 Speaker 1: mail maybe with people that have achieved similarly great things? 599 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:10,000 Speaker 1: I have almost the opposite. I we have gotten a 600 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:14,799 Speaker 1: lot of notes um about one specific article, and rather 601 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:17,359 Speaker 1: than reading any of the individual notes, because all of 602 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,640 Speaker 1: them are basically say have you seen this article? Uh? 603 00:35:20,680 --> 00:35:24,920 Speaker 1: It is an article about Sir Walter Raleigh's head which 604 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:27,880 Speaker 1: came out I think four days after our episode on 605 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:30,400 Speaker 1: Sir Walter Raleigh, and we talked at the end of 606 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:34,000 Speaker 1: that episode about his beheading and about how his head 607 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,799 Speaker 1: was supposedly given to his widow in a bag and 608 00:35:36,840 --> 00:35:38,799 Speaker 1: how she kept it with her for many years, and 609 00:35:38,840 --> 00:35:41,960 Speaker 1: how some elements of that seem a little far fetched 610 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:44,560 Speaker 1: to me. But it's in so many different sources that 611 00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:47,000 Speaker 1: it seems like maybe that really did happen, and it 612 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,200 Speaker 1: is not some sort of historical myth. Uh. And it 613 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,279 Speaker 1: is an article that's been reported in a lot of 614 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:58,120 Speaker 1: different sources about how a red silk velvet bag has 615 00:35:58,160 --> 00:36:01,160 Speaker 1: been found in the attic of West Sleep Palace, which 616 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:05,480 Speaker 1: was the former home of Sir Walter Raleigh's son, and 617 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:10,160 Speaker 1: there h is conjecture slash hypothesis that this might be 618 00:36:10,400 --> 00:36:14,239 Speaker 1: the very bag that Sir Walter, Raleigh's widow used to 619 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:18,120 Speaker 1: carry around his embombed head. UM. Like I said that, 620 00:36:18,160 --> 00:36:22,000 Speaker 1: these articles started appearing about four days after UM this 621 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:25,920 Speaker 1: episode came out, and they all seemed to quote the 622 00:36:26,000 --> 00:36:28,920 Speaker 1: same couple of experts, one of whom are like, well, 623 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,239 Speaker 1: I don't know if this is really the bag, but 624 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:36,080 Speaker 1: the fact that Raleigh's son lived here and we have 625 00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:39,120 Speaker 1: these historical references the bag seems like maybe it could 626 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:42,920 Speaker 1: be the bag. UM. And then there's also a historian 627 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:46,280 Speaker 1: who's like, this is definitely not the bag, because almost 628 00:36:46,920 --> 00:36:51,319 Speaker 1: every source say that it is a leather bag and 629 00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:55,280 Speaker 1: not a silk bag. So U there is a bag 630 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:59,520 Speaker 1: that may or may not have held the head of 631 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:02,680 Speaker 1: Sir wal to Raleigh. UM, and the people quoted in 632 00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:05,919 Speaker 1: all the news articles are divided over how likely they 633 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:08,880 Speaker 1: think that is. So I think by the time this 634 00:37:08,920 --> 00:37:11,719 Speaker 1: episode comes comes out, UM, that like that will have 635 00:37:11,800 --> 00:37:14,759 Speaker 1: fallen off of the news cycle and it will be 636 00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:16,680 Speaker 1: too late for folks to know. Yes, we know about 637 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:21,400 Speaker 1: the bag, but now we do. UM. So, if you 638 00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:23,640 Speaker 1: would like to write to us about this or any 639 00:37:23,680 --> 00:37:27,320 Speaker 1: other podcast or history podcast at how stuffworks dot com. 640 00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:31,240 Speaker 1: We are all over social media at missed in the History. 641 00:37:31,320 --> 00:37:33,640 Speaker 1: That is where you can find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest 642 00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:37,480 Speaker 1: and Instagram. Uh. You can come to our website, which 643 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:39,080 Speaker 1: is missed in History dot com, where you will find 644 00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:41,680 Speaker 1: show notes for all the episodes that Polly and I 645 00:37:41,719 --> 00:37:43,959 Speaker 1: have worked on together in a searchable archive of every 646 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:46,319 Speaker 1: episode ever. And you can listen and subscribe to our 647 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:50,280 Speaker 1: podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google podcast, the I Heart Radio app, 648 00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:58,520 Speaker 1: and anywhere else do you like to find podcasts. For 649 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:01,000 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of us their topics, visit 650 00:38:01,040 --> 00:38:05,239 Speaker 1: how staff works dot com. M