How Susan La Flesche Picotte Became America’s First Native Woman Doctor – Then Built The Hospital Her People Had Been Denied
The first woman.
The first Native graduate.
The first doctor.
The first hospital.
These labels are useful because they communicate achievement quickly.
They can also shrink a life.
If Susan La Flesche Picotte is remembered only as the first Native American woman to receive a medical degree, the most important part of her career disappears after graduation day.
The diploma was a beginning.
Her deeper significance lies in what she did with it.
She returned to a reservation where healthcare was inadequate.
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