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Artist
José María Mora, c. 1847 - 18 Oct 1926
Sitter
Susette LaFlesche Tibbles, 1854 - 26 May 1903
Date
c. 1879
Type
Photograph
Medium
Albumen silver print
Dimensions
Image/Sheet: 14 × 9.7cm (5 1/2 × 3 13/16")
Mount: 16.6 × 10.7 cm (6 9/16 × 4 3/16")
Topic
Photographic format\Cabinet card
Susette LaFlesche Tibbles: Female
Susette LaFlesche Tibbles: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist
Portrait
Place
United States\New York\Kings\New York
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Restrictions & Rights
CC0
Object number
NPG.2013.3
Exhibition Label
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.
En 1877, Susette La Flesche Tibbles presenció en Nebraska la extracción forzosa de los indígenas ponca y el subsiguiente encarcelamiento del jefe ponca Oso Parado junto a otros que intentaron regresar a su tierra natal. Siendo bilingüe y bicultural, Tibbles atestiguó como experta en el consiguiente juicio y también fue intérprete en otros casos presentados por los pueblos nativos contra el gobierno federal. Particularmente testificó en el histórico litigio de 1879 Standing Bear v. Crook, que estableció que: “Los indios son personas, según lo define la ley de Estados Unidos”. Esto implicaba que los indígenas podían decidir dónde vivir. Al igual que otras personas de color, las mujeres nativas no podían darse el lujo de dedicarse a una sola causa, como el sufragio. En cambio, cabildearon arduamente por mejorar las condiciones en las reservas y por lograr la ciudadanía estadounidense, que no se les concedió hasta 1924.
