prescription stick, unrecorded Potawatomi artist

Indigenous communities from the Midwest recorded plant-based recipes on “prescription sticks” like this one. Read from left to right, these recipes could be used to concoct herbal remedies for illness and injury. This particular stick was carved following the federally forced relocation of the Potawatomi from their ancestral homelands in the Great Lakes to what is now Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. Unfortunately, changing plant morphology and a sharp decline in native language speakers due to colonization and assimilation make it impossible to identify the plant species or recipes recorded here. This object serves as an example of the importance of the plant world to the Potawatomi—but also as a reminder of the vast loss of Indigenous healing knowledge resulting from colonial practices.

As the federal government of the United States forced Native American societies further west, removing them from their homelands, or sought to eliminate them entirely through genocide, it became necessary for these peoples to preserve the teachings and shared knowledge of their rapidly disappearing cultures. Writing, uncommon at this time in most Native North American traditions, provided some groups with at least one way to accomplish this goal. Midwestern tribes including the Potawatomi, Anishinabe, and Fox Indians recorded a variety of formulae for making plant-based medicines. These medicinal recipes were inscribed on sticks, often called “prescription sticks,” using pictograms representing local plant species. The sticks read from left to right and typically record a number of different formulae separated by small notches cut between groupings of pictograms. Anthropologist Daniel E. Moerman argues that, rather than as single prescriptions, the sticks should be referred to as “pharmacopeias”—or collections of formulae for creating various medicines and remedies, typically from multi-ingredient compounds. Although attempts have been made to identify the depicted plants, such efforts have proven fruitless for a number of reasons, including the disappearance of speakers of indigenous languages and changing perceptions of plant morphology.

As the U.S. federal government forced Native American societies further west, removing them from their homelands, or sought to eliminate them entirely through genocide, it became necessary for these peoples to preserve the teachings and shared knowledge of their rapidly disappearing cultures. Writing provided some groups with at least one way to accomplish this goal. Midwestern tribes including the Potawatomi, Anishinabe, and Fox Indians recorded a variety of formulae for making plant-based medicines. These medicinal recipes were carved on wooden sticks, often called “prescription sticks,” using pictograms that represent local plant species. This stick was carved following the forced relocation of many Potawatomi to areas including Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma by the federal government. As such, it serves not only as a testament to the significance of the plant world to many of the Native peoples of North America, but also as a reminder of the loss of knowledge resulting from the genocide and forced cultural assimilation of Native Americans.

As the U.S. federal government forced Native American societies further west, removing them from their homelands, or sought to eliminate them entirely through genocide, it became necessary for these peoples to preserve the teachings and shared knowledge of their rapidly disappearing cultures. Writing provided some groups with at least one way to accomplish this goal. Midwestern tribes including the Potawatomi, Anishinabe, and Fox Indians recorded a variety of formulae for making plant-based medicines. These medicinal recipes were carved on wooden sticks, often called “prescription sticks,” using pictograms that represent local plant species. This stick was carved following the forced relocation of many Potawatomi to areas including Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma by the federal government. As such, it serves not only as a testament to the significance of the plant world to many of the Native peoples of North America, but also as a reminder of the loss of knowledge resulting from the genocide and forced cultural assimilation of Native Americans.