Francis La Flesche

Who was Francis La Flesche?

Francis La Flesche was the first professional Native American ethnologist; he worked with the Smithsonian Institution, specializing first in his own Omaha culture, followed by that of the Osage. Working closely as a translator and researcher with the anthropologist Alice C. Fletcher, La Flesche wrote several articles and a book on the Omaha, plus more numerous works on the Osage. He made valuable original recordings of their traditional songs and chants. Beginning in 1908 he collaborated with the composer Charles Wakefield Cadman to develop an opera, Da O Ma, based on his stories of Omaha life. A collection of his stories was published in 1998.

Of Omaha, Ponca, and French descent, La Flesche was the son of the Omaha chief Joseph LaFlesche and his second wife Ta-in-ne. He grew up on the Omaha Reservation at a time of major transition for the tribe. Before the establishment of anthropology programs, he earned undergraduate and master's degrees at the National University Law School in Washington, DC. He made his professional life among European Americans.