Beatrice Medicine
Beatrice Medicine (August 1, 1923 - December 19, 2005) (Sihasapa and Minneconjou Lakota) (Lakota name Hinsha Waste Agli Win – "Returns Victorious with a Red Horse Woman") was a scholar, anthropologist, and educator known for her work in the fields of Indigenous languages, cultures, and history. Medicine spent much of her life researching, teaching, and serving Native communities, primarily in the fields of bilingual education, addiction and recovery, mental health, tribal identity, and women's, children's, and LGBT community issues. Early life. Medicine was born on the Standing Rock Reservation in Wakpala, South Dakota on the 1st of August , 1923. Education. Medicine received her BA in anthropology at South Dakota State University in 1945, and her MA in both Sociology and Anthropology from Michigan State University in 1954. She completed her Ph.D in 1983 at the University of Wisconsin. Career. Medicine studied the human behaviors involved in racism and linguistic discrimination, in both academia and social anthropology. Much of her work focused on the resurgence, survivance, and expansion of Indigenous languages and culture. Medicine was known internationally for her work with students and faculty, and over her 50 year career at campuses including Santo Domingo Pueblo Agency School , Flandreau Indian School, the University of British Columbia, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, Mount Royal College (now Mount Royal University), San Francisco State University, the University of Washington, the University of Montana and the University of South Dakota. She retired as Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at California State University, Northridge. In her book, "Learning to Be an Anthropologist and Remaining Native", Medicine playfully attributed her multi-institutional career as a result of embracing the traditional roots of the Lakota: "as far as moving so often is concerned, I jokingly refer to the former nomadism of my people". Her lifelong commitment as  a scholar and educator resulted in numerous publications, speeches, lectures, and studies, for many which Medicine received honourable accolades and awards recognizing her pursuits for equity in human rights. Medicine was actively involved in civil rights struggles in the Indigenous communities of Seattle, Vancouver, and Calgary. In 1974 Medicine testified alongside Vine Deloria Jr. as an expert witness in the federal case brought against those involved in the Wounded Knee incident. In 1984, Medicine was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board, a nonprofit organization built with the intent on "holding power accountable". In 1993-94 Medicine took a  stand for her beliefs and respect for the role of women in Indigenous cultures by accepting a position in the Women's Branch of Canada's Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, seeing this as acting as a voice for the people to fight for the legal rights of Indigenous families. Medicine's commitment to social action did not end when she retired from her career as a teacher and scholar in the early 1990s. Upon returning to her home on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota she assisted in the efforts to build a new public school for  the community. She also sat on the Pardon Board and the Wakpala-Smee School District School board. Death. Beatrice Medicine died during an emergency surgery on 19 December 2005, in Bismarck, North Dakota. In accordance with her wishes there was no funeral service. Her family requested that, rather than collect flowers for a gravesite, friends and family instead donate to the American Indian College Fund in Denver, Colorado. Medicine is survived by her sister Grace V Yardley, her son Ted Sitting Crow Garner, and her adopted daughter JoAllyn Archambault who is also an anthropologist. Legacy. In 2006 AltaMira Press published  Drinking and Sobriety Among the Lakota Sioux, a work they had been producing with Medicine in the days prior to her passing"." This work examines the role of harmful Stereotypes of indigenous peoples of Canada and the United States in relation to alcoholism which Medicine originally presented in her 1969 article "The Changing Dakota Family and the Stresses Therein," in "The Pine Ridge Research Journal." In honour of Medicine and her lifelong dedication to education, The Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) created the Bea Medicine Award, a scholarship travel grant of $500, awarded to up to four students who  are either completing their undergraduate or graduate studies, to assist in attending the Annual Meeting of the SfAA. Her papers are archived in the National Anthropological Archives at the Smithsonian Institution.