“Postcards from Lincoln” Features the Story of Dr. Susan La Flesche

Date and Time for this Past Event

• Monday, Oct 14, 2024  7pm - 8pm

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Arts

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All are invited to Saint Paul United Methodist Church for “Postcards from Lincoln” on Monday, October 14 at 7:00 p.m.

UNL professor and author, Joseph Starita, will discuss his book, A Warrior of the People: How Susan La Flesche Overcame Racial and Gender Inequality to Become America’s First Indian Doctor. As a child, Susan La Flesche had watched a sick Indian woman die because the local white doctor would not give her care. She later credited this tragedy as her inspiration to train as a physician, so she could provide care for the people she lived with on the Omaha Reservation. On March 14, 1889, Susan La Flesche received her medical degree―becoming the first Native American doctor in U.S. history. She earned her degree 31 years before women could vote and 35 years before Indians could become citizens in their own country.

This is the story of an Indian woman who effectively became the chief of an entrenched patriarchal tribe, the story of a woman who crashed through thick walls of ethnic, racial and gender prejudice, then spent the rest of her life using a unique bicultural identity to improve the lot of her people―physically, emotionally, politically, and spiritually.

All are invited to attend! These lectures are free and open to the public.