The Right Chemistry: Sordid medicine shows exploited Indigenous cures
American settlers capitalized on Indigenous Peoples' long history of using plants to treat ailments.
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman — heroine of the 1990s television western of that name — prescribed willow bark tea for just about any ailment, a practice she learned from the Cheyenne. Historical accounts and archeological evidence indicate that Indigenous Peoples in North America really did use willow bark to treat aches, pains and fevers long before 18th-century cleric Edward Stone introduced willow bark as a medicine in England. Read More