Recent from talks
Susette La Flesche
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Susette La Flesche
Susette La Flesche, later Susette LaFlesche Tibbles and also called Inshata Theumba, meaning "Bright Eyes" (c. 1854–1903), was a well-known Native American writer, lecturer, interpreter, and artist of the Omaha tribe in Nebraska. La Flesche was a progressive who was a spokesperson for Native American rights. She was of Ponca, Iowa, French, and Anglo-American ancestry. In 1983, she was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame. In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Susette, also called Inshata Theumba (Bright Eyes), was born in Bellevue, Nebraska in about 1854, the eldest daughter of five children born to Joseph LaFlesche and his wife Mary Gale. Joseph was the son of the French fur trader Joseph La Flesche, a wealthy immigrant from France, and his Ponca wife, Waoowinchtcha, reportedly a relative of the Omaha chief Big Elk. After some years of trading with the Omaha while working with Peter Sarpy, the younger La Flesche was adopted as a son by the chief Big Elk. He named him successor to his position. La Flesche, known as "Iron Eyes" became the last traditional chief of the Omaha.
The La Flesches were a "prominent, affluent and acculturated family" among the Omaha. La Flesche and Mary stressed the importance of education for their children: Louis, Susette, Rosalie, Marguerite and Susan, and "favored assimilation". They thought it offered the best future for their people. The La Flesche family supported the missionary schools and white teachers for their children.
As chief, Joseph had a second wife Ta-in-ne (Elizabeth Esau), an Omaha woman, and they married around 1856. The following year, 1857, their son Francis La Flesche was born, followed by other children.
From 1862 to 1869, La Flesche attended Presbyterian Mission Boarding Day School on the reservation where she learned to read, write, and speak in English as well as cook and sew. After the Presbyterian mission school on the reservation closed, Susette La Flesche attended Elizabeth Institute for young ladies, a private school in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where she was followed by her younger sisters Marguerite and Susan. Her writing skills were recognized and encouraged during her school years. The New York Tribune published an essay she wrote her senior year.
Susette's siblings also became professionals: Susan LaFlesche Picotte became the first Native American physician and founded the first privately funded hospital on an Indian reservation; and Rosalie La Flesche Farley became a financial manager for the Omaha nation, leasing grazing land that was excess to individual household needs. Marguerite LaFlesche Picotte was a teacher on the Yankton Sioux reservation, having married Charles Picotte. Their half-brother Francis LaFlesche became an ethnologist for the Smithsonian Institution, writing about the Omaha and the Osage, and making original recordings of their traditional songs.
As a young woman, Susette La Flesche became more interested in politics and soon graduated and learned how to speak English. She first worked as a teacher on the Omaha reservation. She had always wanted to become a teacher and after graduating from school at the Elizabeth Institute for Young Ladies in New Jersey. After returning home, she began to teach, first in the mission school and later at the government school on the Omaha reservation. She also established a Sunday school with the support of William and Julia Hamilton, who were noted to be the Presbyterian missionaries there since 1855.
Since her paternal grandmother and uncle were Ponca, she and her father traveled to Oklahoma to investigate conditions after the tribe's forced removal from Nebraska to Indian Territory. (The US government had reassigned the Ponca land in Nebraska to the Great Sioux Reservation.)
Hub AI
Susette La Flesche AI simulator
(@Susette La Flesche_simulator)
Susette La Flesche
Susette La Flesche, later Susette LaFlesche Tibbles and also called Inshata Theumba, meaning "Bright Eyes" (c. 1854–1903), was a well-known Native American writer, lecturer, interpreter, and artist of the Omaha tribe in Nebraska. La Flesche was a progressive who was a spokesperson for Native American rights. She was of Ponca, Iowa, French, and Anglo-American ancestry. In 1983, she was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame. In 1994, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
Susette, also called Inshata Theumba (Bright Eyes), was born in Bellevue, Nebraska in about 1854, the eldest daughter of five children born to Joseph LaFlesche and his wife Mary Gale. Joseph was the son of the French fur trader Joseph La Flesche, a wealthy immigrant from France, and his Ponca wife, Waoowinchtcha, reportedly a relative of the Omaha chief Big Elk. After some years of trading with the Omaha while working with Peter Sarpy, the younger La Flesche was adopted as a son by the chief Big Elk. He named him successor to his position. La Flesche, known as "Iron Eyes" became the last traditional chief of the Omaha.
The La Flesches were a "prominent, affluent and acculturated family" among the Omaha. La Flesche and Mary stressed the importance of education for their children: Louis, Susette, Rosalie, Marguerite and Susan, and "favored assimilation". They thought it offered the best future for their people. The La Flesche family supported the missionary schools and white teachers for their children.
As chief, Joseph had a second wife Ta-in-ne (Elizabeth Esau), an Omaha woman, and they married around 1856. The following year, 1857, their son Francis La Flesche was born, followed by other children.
From 1862 to 1869, La Flesche attended Presbyterian Mission Boarding Day School on the reservation where she learned to read, write, and speak in English as well as cook and sew. After the Presbyterian mission school on the reservation closed, Susette La Flesche attended Elizabeth Institute for young ladies, a private school in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where she was followed by her younger sisters Marguerite and Susan. Her writing skills were recognized and encouraged during her school years. The New York Tribune published an essay she wrote her senior year.
Susette's siblings also became professionals: Susan LaFlesche Picotte became the first Native American physician and founded the first privately funded hospital on an Indian reservation; and Rosalie La Flesche Farley became a financial manager for the Omaha nation, leasing grazing land that was excess to individual household needs. Marguerite LaFlesche Picotte was a teacher on the Yankton Sioux reservation, having married Charles Picotte. Their half-brother Francis LaFlesche became an ethnologist for the Smithsonian Institution, writing about the Omaha and the Osage, and making original recordings of their traditional songs.
As a young woman, Susette La Flesche became more interested in politics and soon graduated and learned how to speak English. She first worked as a teacher on the Omaha reservation. She had always wanted to become a teacher and after graduating from school at the Elizabeth Institute for Young Ladies in New Jersey. After returning home, she began to teach, first in the mission school and later at the government school on the Omaha reservation. She also established a Sunday school with the support of William and Julia Hamilton, who were noted to be the Presbyterian missionaries there since 1855.
Since her paternal grandmother and uncle were Ponca, she and her father traveled to Oklahoma to investigate conditions after the tribe's forced removal from Nebraska to Indian Territory. (The US government had reassigned the Ponca land in Nebraska to the Great Sioux Reservation.)
Recent media