Nurses and a Beloved Woman: Eastern Cherokee Sovereignty and Federal Public Health in Interwar America

In the 1920s and 1930s, the US Office of Indian Affairs (OIA) operated a public health (or “field nurse”) program to provide better care for Indigenous communities. Laurel Sanders tells the history of this program, centering on the life of Lula Owl Gloyne. Gloyne was an OIA field nurse, an early Native registered nurse, and a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Located in Western North Carolina, this Indigenous Appalachian community faced healthcare barriers shaped by racism, se...