She also resisted exploitation with extraordinary determination.

Good history does not need to erase the uncomfortable parts.

It needs to explain how a person operated inside constraints that did not offer clean choices.

Susan’s Medical Degree Was A Political Object

A diploma is usually treated as evidence of education.

For Susan, it was also evidence of authority.

When she entered a patient’s home, the medical degree represented knowledge that white institutions recognized.

That mattered on a reservation where federal agents and outside professionals frequently claimed the right to decide what Native people needed.

Susan could confront them as a credentialed physician.

She could write with professional authority.