Native American Women in Medicine
Indigenous women played a big part in medicine in early America. They acted as healers, midwives, and herbalists. The believed in the power of the human body to heal itself sometimes with a little help. They gathered their own herbs and made their own medicines. Their cultural practices helped Native Americans to live healthy lives.
Today many people are feeling the stress of too many manufactured drugs and are going back to more natural medicine. We can learn a lot from the Native American women healers.
There have been many outstanding indigenous women who entered the medical field. We have already recounted the story of Susan La Flesche (Omaha). She was the first Native American female M.D.[1] This week we will feature the second Native American female M.C., Lillie Rosa Minoka-Hill (Mohawk). I am excited about relating the story of Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail (Crow) first Indigenous Registered Nurse.
Please notice that I am including the tribe for each woman. There are more than nine million Native Americans living in the U.S. There are hundreds of tribal nations, some very small, each with its own language, culture, and traditions. Around 68% of Native Americans and Alaskan Natives live on or near their homelands. Tribal families are very important. Many of the women whose stories we feature returned to their homeland to help their tribes including Dr. Lillie Rosa Minoka-Hill and Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, R.N., who worked among her native people.
Dr. Lillie Rosa Minoka-Hill (1876-1952)
Rosa Minoka-Hill was born on the St. Regis Reservation in New York in 1876 to a Mohawk mother and a Quaker father who was a physician. Lillie Rosa’s mother died when she was just an infant and she was raised by her father until she was five. Then he sent her to a Quaker boarding school in Philadelphia. He decided to call her Rosa, but he instructed her in her Native American heritage.
Rosa graduated from high school in 1895. She wanted to follow the Quaker way of “doing good” so she planned to be a nurse. Her family persuaded her to enter medical school instead. She spent a year in Quebec studying French at a convent. She was impressed by the sisters’ work and decided to convert to Catholicism. Her father decided to accept her conversion. When she returned to Philadelphia he paid for her to go to the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania. She graduated in 1899 and interned at the Woman’s Hospital in Philadelphia. Rosa was the second Native American woman to receive her medical degree about 10 years after Susan La Flesche.
Rosa treated poor immigrant women at a woman’s clinic. Later she established a private practice with a friend. She worked at a government boarding school for Native Americans for a time. She met her future husband, Charles Abram Hill. He was a farmer and after they married in 1905 they moved to his farm in Oneida, Wisconsin. Charles wanted her to be a farm wife, so she agreed to leave her medical practice. She opened up a “kitchen clinic” in her home where she served her community in spite of not having a Wisconsin medical license.
Rosa’s husband died in 1916 from acute appendicitis. She continued to serve her people in her “kitchen clinic” for many years. Rosa became an advocate for healthcare needs on the reservation. Not only was medical care deficient, but the tribal members did not trust white doctors. Her medical knowledge was put to good use as she combined herbal remedies of Oneida medicine with her medical knowledge. She was able to help many of her neighbors and people on the reservation. The local doctors all knew her and Rosa was able to help many people. She was finally able to get her Wisconsin physician license in 1934.
Rosa had a heart attack in 1946 and so she slowed down from making house calls. She continued serving people in her home often accepting the occasional chicken for payment. Her faith moved her to help others.
She was granted professional honors before she died in 1952 from the Wisconsin State Medical Association and the Indian council Fire. The Oneida community honored her by giving her the name “Yo-da-gent” or “she who serves”. There is a monument in Fond du Lac erected in her honor.
Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, R.N. (1903-1981)
Susie was born on the Crow Reservation near Pryor, Montana to Walking Bear (Crow Tribe) and Jane White Horse (Sioux) in 1903. She was orphaned as a child and attended the boarding school on the reservation. Because she was one of the few who spoke English she served as a translator at school.
Susie’s foster parents were missionaries and they moved to Oklahoma where Susie attended a Baptist school until her guardian, Mrs. C.A. Field sent her to Northfield Seminary in Massachusetts. She then continued her education at Boston City Hospital’s School of Nursing and graduated with honors in 1923. Susie became the first Native American of Crow descent to become a registered nurse.
Caption under picture – In 1927 Susie Walking Bear (seen here, back row, center, with her graduating class from the Boston City Hospital’s School of Nursing) became the first member of the Crow Nation and one of the first Indians in the country, to become a registered nurse.
Susie Walking Bear returned to the Crow Reservation and married Tom Yellowtail, a religious leader, in 1929. She was appointed to Indian Health Services and worked in the Bureau of Indian Affairs Hospital. She traveled to many reservations for the US Public Health Service between 1930 and 1960. She was to make assessments of the health, education, and social needs.
Tragically, Susie discovered many atrocities such as forced sterilizations of Crow women without their consent. She watched as seriously ill Navajo children died on their mother’s backs on the twenty miles or more treks to the nearest hospital. This was the beginning of her lifetime mission to end the abuses and suffering.
She joined healthcare boards to fight the abuse and before long she was known nationally as an advocate. She became a bridge between indigenous people and non-Native Americans. In the 1970’s President Richard Nixon appointed her to his council on Indian[2] Health, Education and Welfare. This gave Susie a national platform to speak for her people.
Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail founded the first professional association for Native American nurses. She also was responsible for getting the government to fund Native American women to go to medical schools.
Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail’s contributions to Indian health care were innumberable. With her husband Thomas (shown here in an undated photograph), she also worked to preserve traditional Crow culture.
Susie and Tom had two daughters and one son and two adopted sons. They also had a number of tribally adopted sons and dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Throughout her life, Susie maintained her Crow identity. She preserved her heritage in her craftwork and traditional Crow beadwork. She gave her artistic creations to family and friends.
She was given many honors. In 1962 she was given the President’s Award for Outstanding Nursing Health Care. She was the director of the Montana Advisory Council on Vocational-technical Education; appointed to the President’s Special Council on Aging; and was a board member of many Native American agencies.
Susie’s photograph hangs in the State Capitol at Helena as one of Montana’s outstanding citizens. She is listed in the Gallery of Outstanding Montanans as a person who made significant contributions to her community. She is known among the Crow people as “our bright and morning star.”
Susie and Rosa both surpassed obstacles of gender and race to become healthcare professionals. Both contributed selflessly to their communities.
[1] See post on February 12, 2024. https://authormarywalker.com/dr-susan-la-flesche-picotte/
[2] Many people still refer to Native Americans as Indians. I will honor the indigenous people by referring to them as Native Americans, indigenous people, tribe, or nation. However, I can’t change history or historical documents. When “Indian” is used in a document or as a quote, I’ll have to go with it. Thankfully, things are changing; slowly.
