Susette LaFlesche Tibbles

In 1877, Susette La Flesche Tibbles witnessed the forced removal of the Ponca from Nebraska and the subsequent imprisonment of Ponca Chief Standing Bear, and others, who attempted to return to their homeland. Bilingual and bicultural, Tibbles served as an expert witness in the ensuing trial and also worked as an interpreter in other court cases that Native peoples brought against the federal government. Importantly, she testified during what became the landmark civil rights case of 1879, Standing Bear v. Crook, which ruled: “An Indian is a person within the meaning of the law of the United States.” Consequently, Native Americans were able to choose where they would live. Like other people of color, Native women did not have the privilege of a single-issue focus like suffrage. As activists, they lobbied strenuously to improve conditions on reservations and for U.S. citizenship, which was granted to them only in 1924.