Final Unsung Hero Painting: Susan La Flesche Picotte

Susan La Flesche Picotte

Veeksha Reddy Vumma

Age: 15

Grade: 9

I wasn’t really looking for Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte’s profile directly, but I stumbled across it when I was looking for an unsung hero. Something about her that caught my eye was that she was the first indigenous woman to ever work in the medical industry. This should be highly acknowledged because being a woman in the 1800s and working in a very male-dominated field must be very hard to do. And not only was she a woman, she was an indigenous woman, and that probably made things even worse when it came to being looked down upon. Another thing that she did that catch my eye was that she built her very own hospital. This hospital was built in the Omaha reservation in 1913 for people (mostly indigenous) that couldn’t receive proper healthcare because of systemic neglect and limited resources.

Something about Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte that changed my outlook on certain things was how she did a very big deed for the Omaha tribe, but her efforts aren’t mentioned that often. The first and only way I found out about this woman was through the unsung heroes' website, and I think that she should be more famous for her actions. This project has made me think about how there must be hundreds of other people just like her that have contributed to making the world a better place but have been looked down upon or just haven't been celebrated or remembered for their heroic efforts.