08/28/2026
β€π€ππ€
βMy people have made desperate struggles, year after year, for a hundred years, for their homes, for their lives and for their libertyβ¦.The solution of the Indian problem, as it is called, is citizenship.ββ Inshata Theumba (Susette La Flesche or Bright Eyes [Omaha, 1854β1903])
Susette La Flesche was part of the first generation of her people to experience reservation life. She was born in 1854, the same year the Omaha gave up their traditional hunting grounds and moved to what is now northeastern Nebraska.
In 1877, La Flesche witnessed the U.S. government's 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. These events launched La Flesche's career as an activist. She visited eastern cities, arguing against the involuntary removal of Native American people and for Native American citizenship rights.
Scholar Brenda J. Child (Red Lake Ojibwe) writes βBoth La Flesche and [reporter Thomas H.] Tibbles played major roles in the 1879 civil rights decision that ended the Ponca imprisonment and led to the historic ruling, βAn Indian is a person within the meaning of the law of the United States.ββ
Tibbles and La Flesche married in July of 1881. La Flesche wore this elegantly ruffled two-piece ensemble, a skirt and jacket trimmed in hand-stitched silk, satin, and lace. The coupleβs wedding took place on restored Ponca land.
La Flescheβs early advocacy, bolstered by the efforts of Zitkala-Ε a (Yankton Sioux, 1876-1938), and Marie Louise Bottineau Baldwin (Turtle Mountain Ojibwe, 1863β1952), helped Native peoples eventually attain citizenship and suffrage.
August 26 marks Womenβs Equality Day, commemorating the anniversary of the 19th Amendment. The (In)visible Women is a pan-Smithsonian project aiming to build more robust data sharing practices around βPeople recordsβ and increase the visibility of women who have contributed to, or are included in, Smithsonian collections with Wikidata. The project is now in Phase 3 thanks to generous support from the American Womenβs History Initiative and the Smithsonian Womenβs Committee. Learn more on our Wikiproject page. https://s.si.edu/4c8GGvA
Dive deeper with the article βPiloting Wikidata as an Authority Identifier: The (In)visible Women Project at the Smithsonian Institution" in the Journal of Open Humanities Data. https://s.si.edu/4zHcPEn
Visitors to our New York City location can find this dress on view in the exhibition βInfinity of Nationsβ. https://s.si.edu/4mBqtlb
__
Wedding dress worn by Inshata Theumba (Susette La Flesche or Bright Eyes, Omaha, 1854β1903), ca. 1881. Nebraska. Wool; 76 x 101 cm (blouse), 112 x 88 cm (skirt). Gift of Mrs. Vivian K. Barris and Dr. Joan B. La Noue. 25/2192
