More Than Just Anthropologist and “Other”: A Legacy of Action by Lakota Native Dr. Beatrice Medicine in Educational Anthropology [1]

A “Woman of Action and Activism" was how American anthropologist and educator Faye V. Harrison poetically encapsulated the legacy of Dr. Beatrice Medicine. Medicine—whose Lakota name was Hinsha Waste Agli Win, or “Returns Victorious with a Red Horse Woman” —was a cultural anthropologist who dedicated her life to the field of anthropology through her roles as scholar, activist, author, and educator, most notably in the fields of Indigenous languages, cultures, and history. Her interests in American Indian Studies covered a variety of social and educational concerns, including, but not limited to, bilingual education, alcohol and drug abuse, women’s issues, the socialization of children, and identity needs. For more than six decades, Medicine dedicated her life to researching, teaching, and serving American Indian communities, eventually earning (among other awards) the American Anthropological Association’s (AAA) Distinguished Service Award (1991) and George and Louise Spindler Award (2005) for her lifelong contributions to the anthropology field, especially educational anthropology.

Beatrice Medicine with William C. Sturtevant at Powwow Conference at the British Museum in February 2003. ([2003 Powwow Conference, British Museum], Box 485, William C. Sturtevant Papers, National Anthropological Archives)

Dr. Beatrice Medicine was born on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in Wakpala, South Dakota on August 1, 1923. As a young adult, she studied at South Dakota State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology in 1945, and at Michigan State University, where she received her Master of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology in 1954. In time Medicine would also go on to earn her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin in 1983, making her, as of that year—according to Medicine’s own acceptance speech for the 1996 Society for Applied Anthropologists Bronislaw Malinowski Award—one of only eighty-six total qualified anthropologists to come from a Native background. Medicine was also awarded several honorary doctorates; however, one of the highest honors of her life was being a Sacred Pipe Woman for the Sun Dance at Sitting Bull’s Camp in 1977.

Medicine began her career as an educator working first as a home economics teacher at the Haskell Indian Institute in 1945 and would go on to teach Native American/Indian Studies university courses, “[embracing] the broadest context of Native peoples’ lives as she sought to understand gender identities, families, physical and mental health, Native religious practices, alcohol and drug treatment, social justice, education, and public policy." In total, Medicine worked as faculty, visiting professor, and scholar-in-residence at thirty-one universities and colleges in the United States and in Canada, even after her official retirement in 1989.

Medicine sought to use her insider’s knowledge as a member of the American Indian community to reduce the “othering” of her people and to improve their overall well-being and treatment by non-Natives. “I am part of the people of my concerns,” she would reflect. Aware of her unique status as a female Lakota among her mostly male Caucasian colleagues, Medicine worked to emphasize the importance of bicultural and bilingual education, challenging institutionalized forms of racism, linguicism, and the lingering effects of colonization in an educational system that sought to “‘whiten’ American Indian children and thereby transform and ‘uplift’ a ‘race.’" Instead of this “antagonistic acculturation," Medicine believed that multicultural education—especially in the form of bilingual education—was essential for American Indians to have anchors to their heritages and the chance to be viewed as students who were capable of academic achievement.

In addition to her aforementioned research interests, the Beatrice Medicine papers at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Anthropological Archives showcase Medicine’s interest in creating greater education opportunities for American Indians. Among the collection items are decades worth of Medicine’s original teaching material (syllabi, course assignments, tests, etc.) and correspondence with her peers from the Committee of Anthropologists at Primarily Minority Institutions (CAPMI). This AAA sub-group brought anthropologists out of retirement and back into the classrooms of primarily minority colleges and universities across the U.S. This provided institutions—especially tribally-controlled ones—with cross-cultural experiences and curricula as a basis for future Native Studies courses. Although short-lived, CAPMI was an important step in addressing systematic “cultural and racial warfare” that limited the educational and economic opportunities of American Indians. Educational programs rooted in accurately portraying American Indian history through lectures by American Indian educators legitimized American Indian students’ senses of cultural identity. They provided a space for American Indians to confront a field that historically misrepresented them, to reclaim their narratives and languages, and to instigate positive change, perhaps as anthropologists themselves.

Self portrait of Beatrice Medicine. (Beatrice Medicine Papers, National Anthropological Archives)

The significance of Beatrice Medicine’s work to the field of anthropology and to the larger American Indian population cannot be understated. For Medicine, professionally researching her own community began as a “survival strategy,” a way to stay connected to her roots as she navigated a life as both insider and outsider, anthropologist and Lakota native. Although much of Medicine’s research and the narrative of her life bring up “the question of belonging,” what she left behind was a legacy of action. Through action showed assertion, a proclamation of her strong sense of personal, professional, and cultural identity, and the opportunity for those living between two worlds to find and assert their own answers.

The Beatrice Medicine Papers will soon be available for researchers at the National Anthropological Archive thanks to generous support from the Smithsonian Women's Committee.

-          Katrina Schroeder, Project Archivist

 National Anthropological Archives

[1] Author’s note: Medicine self-identified as “American Indian” (rather than “Native American”) and will be referenced as such in this piece. The term “American Indian” will also be applied when discussing Medicine’s work in educational anthropology, in which she researched Indigenous peoples under the representation and protection of the National Congress of American Indians, which includes American Indians (i.e. individuals from U.S. mainland tribal nations) and Alaska Natives.

 References

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American Anthropological Association (2019). “Franz Boas Award.” Connect with AAA. Retrieved from https://www.americananthro.org/ConnectWithAAA/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=1925&navItemNumber=771.

American Anthropological Association (2019). “Franz Boa Award Previous Winners.” Retrieved from https://www.americananthro.org/ConnectWithAAA/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=12804.

Council on Anthropology and Education (2019). “George and Louise Spindler Award.” American Anthropological Association. Retrieved from http://cae.americananthro.org/awards/george-and-louise-spindler-award/.

Deyhle, Donna (1995). “Navajo Youth and Anglo Racism: Cultural Integrity and Resistance.” Harvard Educational Review, 65(3), 403-444. Retrieved from https://hepgjournals-org.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu/doi/pdf/10.17763/haer.65.3.156624q12053470n

Deyhle, Donna, and Teresa L. McCarty (2007). “Beatrice Medicine and the Anthropology of Education: Legacy and Vision for Critical Race/Critical Language Research and Praxis.” Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Vol. 38, Issue 3, 209-220. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25166621.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A6c012b83065415de95bbccef2f0b59d8

Garner, Ted (2001). “Forward.” Learning to Be an Anthropologist and Remaining “Native”: Selected Writings. By Beatrice Medicine. Chicago, Il. University of Illinois Press.

Haskell Indian Nations University (2019). “School History.” Retrieved from https://www.haskell.edu/about/history/.

Harrison, Faye V. (2001). “Forward.” Learning to Be an Anthropologist and Remaining “Native”: Selected Writings. By Beatrice Medicine. Chicago, Il. University of Illinois Press.

Medicine, Beatrice (1998). “American Indians and Anthropologists: Issues of History, Empowerment, and Application.” Human Organizations, 57(3). Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/44127270.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A9b63509075643ed729b938c5de92c6e0.

Medicine, Beatrice (2001). Learning to Be an Anthropologist and Remaining “Native”: Selected Writings. Chicago, Il. University of Illinois Press.

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“NEW: Human rights advocate Beatrice Medicine dies.” (2006 January 6). Rapid City Journal. Retrieved from https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/new-human-rights-advocate-beatrice-medicine-dies/article_83eefd24-370f-596d-b2c5-14661170eed1.html.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2019). “Profiles: Faye V. Harrison.” Illinois Experts. Retrieved from https://experts.illinois.edu/en/persons/faye-v-harrison.

Ruoff, A. LaVonne Brown (2006). “Beatrice Medicine: A Strong Lakota Woman, Pioneering Anthropologist, and Dedicated Mentor.” Meeting Ground, 49, 4. Retrieved from  https://ais.illinois.edu/system/files/inline-files/Meeting_Ground_Fall_2006.pdf

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