Toy giant Mattel released a new Barbie this week, modeled after the first Native American woman to earn a medical degree.
Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte, a citizen of the Omaha tribe, was born on June 17, 1865, on the Omaha reservation. When she was a child, she witnessed a Native woman die after a white doctor denied her treatment, an incident that inspired her to pursue medicine. She studied at the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and graduated valedictorian in 1889. She worked as the physician at the Omaha Agency Indian School. Her medical practice extended beyond the school into the reservation, where she provided care for more than 1,200 people.
During Picotte lifetime, she advocated for public health reform around the most pressing medical issues of the time, including tuberculosis, which disproportionately affected Native Americans. In 1913, she opened the first hospital on the Omaha reservation. She died on September 18, 1915, from complications after surgery.
The doll is part of the Barbie Inspiring Women Doll collection, which also includes Native American ballerina Maria Tallchief. Mattel worked with Picotte’s great-granddaughter, Susan Picotte, and the Picotte Center to sculpt a doll in her likeness. The doll is dressed in an outfit inspired by her bronze sculpture in Nebraska, featuring a Umonhon Nation shawl paired with a black-and-white dress and a medical bag in hand.
“As a nurse and Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte’s great-granddaughter, I’m so proud to see her story shared with a new generation through Barbie,” Picotte said in a statement. “She was a role model for the women in our family and dedicated her life to improving the health and well-being of her people. I’m honored to carry her name, and I hope this doll shows girls how one person’s commitment to helping others can make a lasting difference.”
The doll was unveiled on Monday, Nov. 9, at an event hosted by the Picotte Center at Umonhon Nation Public School in Macy, Nebraska. On Wednesday, Nov. 11,
Along with unveiling the new dolls, Mattel announced its Barbie Dream Gap Project will make a financial donation to AISES (Advancing Indigenous Science and Engineering Society) to support its AUNTIE Tech Collective, a multi-generational, culturally centered tech collective that equips Native American women and girls with the skills, support, and community needed to thrive in technology fields. To date, AUNTIE Tech Collective has directly served 180 Native American girls and reached more than 250,000 girls and families through its broader programming and resources.
