Susette LaFlesche Tibbles

Susette LaFlesche Tibbles (1854-1903) was a well-known Native American writer, lecturer, and artist from the Omaha tribe in Nebraska. Susette LaFlesche was a progressive who helped the Native Americans. She was of Ponca, Iowa, French and Anglo-American ancestry.

Early life and education

Susette was one of seven children born to Joseph LaFlesche, who was son of fur trapper Joseph LaFlesche and his Ponca wife, "Waoowinchtcha". Her mother was Mary Gale, also called "Hinnuaganun" (One Woman), daughter of Dr. John Gale, a surgeon at Fort Atkinson (Nebraska) and "Ni-co-ma", his wife from the Iowa (tribe). [ [http://www.nde.state.ne.us/SS/notables/tibbles.html Susette "Bright Eyes" LaFlesche Tibbles] , Nebraska website] The younger Joseph LaFlesche was adopted by Big Elk and named as his successor as chief of the Omaha. Joseph, called Iron Eye, was the last recognized chief of the Omaha. Both Iron Eye and Mary LaFlesche stressed the importance of education.

Susette LaFlesche attended school in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and started writing early. Her siblings also became educated and leaders in their professions: one of her sisters was physician Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte and a brother was Smithsonian ethnologist Francis LaFlesche.

Career and marriage

Also known by her Indian name "Inshata-Theumba", or Bright Eyes, in 1879 LaFlesche acted as the interpreter for Standing Bear during his trial at Fort Omaha, Nebraska. It was there that Standing Bear successfully argued before the United States District Court that Indians were persons under the law, and had all the rights of U.S. citizens. LaFlesche later married Thomas Tibbles, the journalist with the Omaha "World Herald" who was instrumental in bringing the case before the court.

Following the trial, Bright Eyes accompanied Standing Bear, Thomas Tibbles, and others on a speaking tour of the eastern United States. When poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow entertained them at his home at Cambridge, Massachusetts, he said of Bright Eyes, "This could be Minnehaha", referring to the legendary Indian heroine in his poem "The Song of Hiawatha". LaFlesche Tibbles also appeared before a Congressional committee, where she spoke for the rights of Native Americans. After her death at age 49, she was eulogized in the U.S. Senate.

External links

* [http://www.nde.state.ne.us/SS/notables/tibbles.html Biography of Susette ("Bright Eyes") LaFlesche Tibbles]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5221/is_2005/ai_n19138016 Additional biography of Susette LaFlesche Tibbles]
* [http://www.nebraskahistory.org/lib-arch/research/manuscripts/family/laflesche-family.htm LaFlesche Family papers] at the Nebraska State Historical Society