22 Influential Women You Probably Didn't Learn About in School

16. Susan La Flesche Picotte
When Susan La Flesche Picotte was growing up on the Omaha Reservation, she witnessed a sick Native American woman die after a white doctor failed to show up to help, despite sending numerous messages that he would arrive soon. This incident inspired her to study medicine in order to care for members of her tribe, and she became the first Native American woman to earn a medical degree when she graduated from Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1889. As a physician, she served more than 1300 people from her community and beyond, and opened a hospital in Walthill, Nebraska, located within the Omaha Reservation.