Susette LaFlesche Tibbles, also called Insta Theamba (Bright Eyes) (1854 – 1903), was a well-known Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 writer, lecturer, interpreter and artist of the Omaha tribe

Omaha (tribe)

The Omaha are a federally recognized Native American nation which lives on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa, United States...

 in Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

. Susette LaFlesche was a progressive

Progressivism

Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...

 who was a spokesperson for Native American rights. She was of Ponca

Ponca

The Ponca are a Native American people of the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan-language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma...

, Iowa

Iowa tribe

The Iowa , also known as the Báxoje, are a Native American Siouan people. Today they are enrolled in either of two federally recognized tribes, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska....

, French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 and Anglo-American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 ancestry. In 1983 she was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame

Nebraska Hall of Fame

Nebraska Hall of Fame is an official list of prominent Nebraskans compiled in accordance to state law. Members include:*Grace Abbott -- social reformer and social worker....

.

Early life and education

Susette, also called Insta Theamba (Bright Eyes), was one of five children born to Joseph LaFlesche

Joseph LaFlesche

Joseph LaFlesche, also known as E-sta-mah-za or Iron Eye , was the last recognized head chief of the Omaha tribe of Native Americans who was selected according to the traditional tribal rituals. The head chief Big Elk had adopted LaFlesche into the Omaha and designated him as his successor....

 and his wife Mary Gale. Joseph was the son of the French fur trader Joseph LaFlesche, a wealthy immigrant from France, and his Ponca

Ponca

The Ponca are a Native American people of the Dhegihan branch of the Siouan-language group. There are two federally recognized Ponca tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma...

 wife, Waoowinchtcha(who was reported to be a relative of the Omaha chief Big Elk

Big Elk

Big Elk, also known as Ontopanga , was a principal chief of the Omaha tribe for many years on the upper Missouri River. He is notable for his oration delivered at the funeral of Black Buffalo in 1813....

.)

LaFlesche, also called Insta Maza (Iron Eye), had started with the American Fur Company

American Fur Company

The American Fur Company was founded by John Jacob Astor in 1808. The company grew to monopolize the fur trade in the United States by 1830, and became one of the largest businesses in the country. The company was one the first great trusts in American business...

 at age 16, after accompanying his father from the age of 10 on his trips. After his parents separated because of his father's long trips, the younger LaFlesche lived with his mother and her family among the Omaha. She married again, as did his father. Joseph's half-brother, Frank LaFlesche (White Swan) became a chief of the Ponca and was influential in the lives of Joseph's children.

After some years of trading with the Omaha while working with Peter Sarpy, the younger LaFlesche was adopted as a son by the chief Big Elk

Big Elk

Big Elk, also known as Ontopanga , was a principal chief of the Omaha tribe for many years on the upper Missouri River. He is notable for his oration delivered at the funeral of Black Buffalo in 1813....

. He named him successor to his position. LaFlesche (Iron Eyes) became the last traditional chief of the Omaha

Omaha (tribe)

The Omaha are a federally recognized Native American nation which lives on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa, United States...

.

Before that, he had married Mary Gale, also called Hinnuaganun (One Woman), the mixed-race daughter of Dr. John Gale, a surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

 at Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)

Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)

Fort Atkinson was the first United States Army post to be established west of the Missouri River in the unorganized region of the Louisiana Purchase of the United States. Located just east of present-day Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, the fort was erected in 1819 and abandoned in 1827...

 and Ni-co-ma, his Iowa wife. (After Gale abandoned his consort and child in Nebraska, Ni-co-ma married the fur trader Peter Sarpy. )

The LaFlesches were a "prominent, affluent and acculturated family" among the Omaha. LaFlesche 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 LaFlesche family supported the missionary schools and white teachers for their children.

Mary LaFlesche died about 1855. Joseph married again, to Ta-in-ne (Elizabeth Esau), an Omaha woman. The following year, 1857, their son Francis LaFlesche was born, followed by other children.

After the Presbyterian mission school

Mission School

The Mission School is an art movement of the 1990s and 2000s, centered in the Mission District of San Francisco, California.-History and characteristics:...

 on the reservation closed, Susette LaFlesche attended a girls' school in Elizabeth, New Jersey

Elizabeth, New Jersey

Elizabeth is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 124,969, retaining its ranking as New Jersey's fourth largest city with an increase of 4,401 residents from its 2000 Census population of 120,568...

, where she was followed by her younger sisters Marguerite and Susan. Her writing skills were recognized and encouraged during her school years.

The LaFlesche family was very accomplished, and her siblings also became educated and leaders in their professions: Susan LaFlesche Picotte

Susan La Flesche Picotte

Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte was the first American Indian woman to become a physician in the United States. She grew up with her parents on the Omaha Reservation. She went to college at the Hampton Institute and got her medical degree at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia...

 became the first Native American woman physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 and founded the first privately funded hospital on an Indian reservation

Indian reservation

An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...

; and Rosalie LaFlesche Player 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

Francis La Flesche

Francis La Flesche was the first professional Native American ethnologist; he worked with the Smithsonian Institution, specializing first in his own Omaha culture, followed by that of the Osage. Working closely as a translator and researcher with the anthropologist Alice C...

 became an ethnologist for the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

, writing about the Omaha and the Osage

Osage Nation

The Osage Nation is a Native American Siouan-language tribe in the United States that originated in the Ohio River valley in present-day Kentucky. After years of war with invading Iroquois, the Osage migrated west of the Mississippi River to their historic lands in present-day Arkansas, Missouri,...

, and making original recordings of their traditional songs.

Career

As a young woman, Susette LaFlesche became more interested in politics. She first worked as a teacher on the Omaha reservation.

Since her paternal grandmother and uncle were Ponca, she and her father traveled to Oklahoma to investigate conditions after the tribe's forced removal

Indian Removal

Indian removal was a nineteenth century policy of the government of the United States to relocate Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River to lands west of the river...

 from Nebraska to Indian Territory. (The US government had reassigned the Ponca land in Nebraska to the Great Sioux Reservation

Great Sioux reservation

The Great Sioux Reservation was established in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and includes all of modern western South Dakota and modern Boyd County, Nebraska...

.)

LaFlesche worked with Thomas Tibbles

Thomas Tibbles

Thomas Henry Tibbles was a journalist and author from Omaha, Nebraska who became an activist for Native American rights in the United States during the late nineteenth century.- Life :Born in Ohio, he moved to Illinois with his parents...

, an editor with the Omaha World Herald, to publicize the poor conditions they found at the southern reservation: the Ponca had been moved too late in the year to plant crops, the government was late with supplies and promised infrastructure and improvements, and malaria

Malaria

Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...

 was endemic in the area. Nearly one-third of the tribe died within the first two years as a result of the journey and conditions, among them the oldest son of Chief Standing Bear

Standing Bear

Standing Bear was a Ponca Native American chief who successfully argued in U.S...

. The chief left the Indian Territory with some followers to bury his son in the traditional homeland of Nebraska. They were arrested and confined to Fort Omaha

Fort Omaha

Fort Omaha, originally known as Sherman Barracks and then Omaha Barracks, is an Indian War-era United States Army supply installation. Located at 5730 North 30th Street, with the entrance at North 30th and Fort Streets in modern-day North Omaha, Nebraska, the facility is primarily occupied by ...

, by order of the federal government. Tibbles' coverage of the chief's imprisonment was instrumental in gaining Standing Bear pro bono legal services by two prominent defense attorneys, including the counsel for the Union Pacific Railroad

Union Pacific Railroad

The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....

. Standing Bear filed a suit of habeas corpus

Habeas corpus

is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...

against the US government, challenging the grounds for his arrest.

In 1879 LaFlesche acted as the chief's interpreter during his trial at Fort Omaha, Nebraska. She also testified as to conditions on the reservation in Indian Territory. Standing Bear successfully challenged the lack of grounds of his arrest and imprisonment, arguing before the United States District Court

United States district court

The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...

 that Indians were persons under the law, and had all the rights of U.S. citizens. Tibbles attended and reported the case, which gained national attention. Standing Bear v. Crook (1879) was a landmark civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 case, with the judge deciding that Indians had certain rights as "persons" and citizens under the US constitution.

Following the trial, LaFlesche and her half-brother Francis accompanied Standing Bear and others on a speaking tour of the eastern United States, which was organized by Tibbles. In addition to taking turns interpreting for Standing Bear, Susette LaFlesche spoke separately as an orator. During the tour, LaFlesche and Tibbles also testified in Washington in 1880 before a Congress

United States Congress

The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

ional committee about the disastrous Ponca removal. LaFlesche spoke for the rights of Native Americans. They met prominent American writers, such as the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and Evangeline...

 and writer Helen Hunt Jackson

Helen Hunt Jackson

Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, born Helen Fiske , was a United States writer who became an activist on behalf of improved treatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government. She detailed the adverse effects of government actions in her history A Century of Dishonor...

. In 1881 Jackson published a book about US treatment of Native Americans entitled A Century of Dishonor, and in 1884 the novel Ramona, based on Indian issues in Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

. Longfellow reportedly said of LaFlesche, "This could be Minnehaha

Minnehaha

Minnehaha is a fictional Native American woman documented in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1855 epic poem The Song of Hiawatha. She is the lover of the titular protagonist Hiawatha. The name is often incorrectly said to mean "laughing water", though in reality it translates to "waterfall" or...

", referring to the legendary Indian heroine in his poem The Song of Hiawatha

The Song of Hiawatha

The Song of Hiawatha is an 1855 epic poem, in trochaic tetrameter, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, featuring an Indian hero and loosely based on legends and ethnography of the Ojibwe and other Native American peoples contained in Algic Researches and additional writings of Henry Rowe Schoolcraft...

.

In 1887, LaFlesche and Tibbles, by then married, accompanied Standing Bear on a 10-month speaking tour of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. LaFlesche continued to act as the chief's interpreter. They were heard by many who wanted to learn more about the American Indian issues in the United States.

After their return to Nebraska, LaFlesche and Tibbles became interested in the growing Ghost Dance

Ghost Dance

The Ghost Dance was a new religious movement which was incorporated into numerous Native American belief systems. The traditional ritual used in the Ghost Dance, the circle dance, has been used by many Native Americans since prehistoric times...

 movement and issues among the restive Sioux

Sioux

The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...

 bands. They went to the Pine Ridge Agency in 1890 and wrote about its conditions, as well as the Wounded Knee Massacre

Wounded Knee Massacre

The Wounded Knee Massacre happened on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA. On the day before, a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M...

. This work was likely the peak of LaFlesche's journalism career. She continued to publish articles and columns in papers in Nebraska, including her husband's Populist

Populism

Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...

 The Independent.

Marriage

LaFlesche and Thomas Tibbles were married in 1881, after his wife died. During the next 14 years, the couple spent some time in Washington, D.C. (1893-1895), but lived mostly in Nebraska. While in Washington, LaFlesche wrote and lectured on Native American issues. For instance, she gave an address to the Association for the Advancement of Women, on "The Position, Occupation, and Culture of Indian Women."

In Nebraska, she spent time farming on her allotment of land as a tribal member on the Omaha Reservation

Omaha Reservation

The Omaha Reservation of the Omaha tribe is located mostly in Thurston County, Nebraska, with sections in neighboring Cuming County and Burt County, in addition to Monona County in Iowa. The tribal seat of government is in Macy, with the towns of Rosalie, Thurston, Pender and Walthill located in...

 and also writing. Her husband managed her father's property. They lived there most of the time.

Literary works

• "Nedawi: An Indian Story from Real Life" was published in the children's magazine St. Nicholas in 1881. "Nedawi" is thought to be the first short story written by an American Indian which was not based on legend.
• "Omaha Legends and Tent Stories", "Wide Awake" (1883), in Karen L. Kilcup, ed. Native American Women's Writing c. 1800-1924: An Anthology
• With Fannie Reed Griffin, Bright Eyes co-authored the book, Oo-mah-ha Ta-wa-tha (1898), and illustrated it.
• Introduction to the novel, Ploughed-Under: The Story of an Indian Chief, as Told by Himself (1881), by William Justin Harsha. She also illustrated the book, which she edited.
• Introduction to The Ponca Chiefs, by Thomas Tibbles.
• LaFlesche wrote columns for the Omaha World Herald and her husband's Populist
  Populist Party (United States)
  The People's Party, also known as the "Populists", was a short-lived political party in the United States established in 1891. It was most important in 1892-96, then rapidly faded away...
  
   paper, The Independent.

Legacy and honors

• 1903, after her death, LaFlesche Tibbles was eulogized in the US Senate.
• 1983, in recognition of her role as a spokesperson and writer about her people, Susette ("Bright Eyes") LaFlesche Tibbles was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame
  Nebraska Hall of Fame
  Nebraska Hall of Fame is an official list of prominent Nebraskans compiled in accordance to state law. Members include:*Grace Abbott -- social reformer and social worker....
  
  .

Additional reading

• Clark, Jerry E. and Martha Ellen Webb, "Susette and Susan LaFlesche: Reformer and Missionary", in Being and Becoming Indian: Biographical Studies of North American Frontiers, ed. James A. Clifton, Dorsey, 1989, pp. 137–150
• Green, Norma Kidd. Iron Eye's Family: The Children of Joseph LaFlesche. Lincoln, Neb. 1969.
• Wilson, Dorothy Clarke. Bright Eyes: The Story of Susette LaFlesche, An Omaha Indian. New York: McGraw Hill, 1974.

External links

• "LaFlesche Family Papers", Nebraska State Historical Society