Medicine, Beatrice, 1923-2005

Beatrice “Bea” Medicine (Sihasapa Lakota) was a cultural anthropologist, educator, and Native American rights activist. Medicine, whose Lakota name was Hinsha Waste Agli Win (Returns Victorious with a Red Horse Woman), was born on August 1, 1923, in Wakpala, South Dakota, on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Her education included a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from South Dakota State University in 1945, a master’s degree in sociology and anthropology from Michigan State University in 1954, and a PhD in anthropology at University of Wisconsin in 1983. Medicine began her teaching career teaching home economics in 1945 at Haskell Indian Institute, in Lawrence, Kansas. Over her career, she taught anthropology and Native American/Indian studies at a large number of institutions, including Indian schools and colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada.

Medicine’s anthropological work focused on educational anthropology. She studied and wrote about Indigenous languages, bicultural and bilingual education, the socialization of children, women’s issues, alcohol and drug use, and racism and linguistic discrimination. In her work, Medicine used her status as a Lakota woman to combat the “othering” of Native people and challenge the perspectives of non-Native anthropologists.

Medicine was also involved in civil rights struggles, including serving as an expert witness in trials related to American Indian rights, serving on the Women’s Branch of Canada’s Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, being elected to the national board of Common Cause, and serving on Wakpala-Smee School District school board in South Dakota.

Medicine passed away on December 19, 2005.