Tibbles, Susette La Flesche (1854-1903)

Omaha reformer, author, and illustrator. The Ponca Indians were forcibly removed from their lands in 1877; in the national protest that followed, Susette La Flesche travelled to the East as translator for the Ponca chief, Standing Bear, on a lecture tour. Her crusade led to the passage of the Dawes Act of 1887. Susette La Flesche coauthored, with Standing Bear, Ploughed Under: The Story of an Indian Chief (1882).

Tibbles was born in present-day Nebraska, sister of Susan La Flesche Picotte. Both grandfathers were Caucasians, both grandmothers were American Indians; her father was an Omaha chief, her mother was more involved with the world of whites. After studying at a girls school in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Susette La Flesche returned to the reservation and became a teacher in a government school.

The Tibbles also travelled to England to present the case for American Indians' claims to their land. Thereafter she lectured occasionally, wrote various articles, and gained a minor reputation as an artist-illustrator. She and her husband lived most of their years in Nebraska where she died on her native land.