Without Webster and Poppleton, the habeas petition might not have been filed in the same way.

Without Susette La Flesche, the courtroom and speaking-tour communication would have been radically different.

The most accurate version preserves Standing Bear as the central actor without turning everyone else into scenery.

And perhaps the most damaging simplification is to remove the word Ponca.

Calling him merely a “Native American chief” turns a nation-specific story into generic Indigenous inspiration.

Standing Bear was Ponca.