Native American Heritage Month
During Native American Heritage Month, the NAM features Indigenous pioneers and NAM members who have worked tirelessly to benefit the health of others and advance the field of health and medicine in a Twitter campaign. On this page, you will find those featured in this year’s campaign, and those from years past.
We encourage you to share the tweets and graphics below with your networks throughout the year – not just during Native American Heritage Month.
Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, the first registered nurse of the Crow people & “Grandmother of American Indian Nurses,” championed community health representative programs to mitigate language barriers that were affecting Native Americans’ medical care.
Susan La Flesche Picotte was the first Native American woman in the United States to become a physician. Dr. Picotte was a noted public health activist, promoting temperance and hygiene on the Omaha Reservation.
Annie Dodge Wauneka, as a member of the Navajo Nation Council, worked to improve health in her community. She translated medical terms into Navajo, hosted a radio show explaining health issues, and worked to eradicate tuberculosis.
Charles Eastman was among the first Native Americans to be certified in western medicine, and was a prolific speaker on Native American rights. He is considered the first Native author to write American history from the Native American point of view.
Four “Lakota Grandmas” Phoebe Downing (Standing Rock), Eunice Larrabee (Cheyenne River), Alfreda Janis Bergin (Pine Ridge), and Irene Groneau (Sisseton-Wahpeton)―banded together to serve their communities by tackling a variety of health issues.
Patricia Nez Henderson, a member of the Navajo Nation, devoted much of her career to studying the effects of nicotine on Native Americans from a genetic viewpoint, as well as to developing culturally relevant tools for smoking cessation.
Jessica Rickert, DDS is the first Native American woman to become a dentist. She advocates for Indigenous and other underrepresented students of color to pursue careers in dentistry & other fields to fight health care disparities.
We have done our best to report facts and represent the individuals listed above accurately. We acknowledge that there is not often verified information about these individuals in traditional historical sources, which was the impetus for this work. The research for this campaign has taken place over many years, and we plan to update the page in the future with new information or corrections. If you have a question or comment, please email us at [email protected].
