Who Really Was Dr. George Tann?

After attending the very first LauraPalooza conference in 2010 put on by the Laura Ingalls Wilder Legacy and Research Association, researcher and educator Susan Thurlow prepared a project for the next conference in 2012. Her topic: Dr. George Tann, an African-American character from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 1935 book Little House on the Prairie.

As a parent of several African American and Afro-Caribbean children, Susan made this a family project, involving several of her children in the creation of a biographical booklet Dr. George Tann: Black Frontier Physician.

With the new Netflix TV show out in 2026, Dr. Tann is again at the forefront of Little House conversation. But what do we really know about his real life?

Susan has continued to study Dr. Tann, and now she's in the Land of Laura studio to tell us all about him.

Mentioned in this episode:

Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum https://www.cspm.org/

Rockledge Ranch Historic Site https://rockledgeranch.com/

Doctor Who Fetched the Family Dog by Eileen Miles Charbo (out of print)

https://www.abebooks.com/9789996289255/Doctor-Fetched-Family-Dog-Story-9996289257/plp

Sarah Uthoff of Trundlebed Tales https://www.trundlebedtales.com/index.html

"Dr. Tann, a Pioneer Physician and Neighbor to the Ingalls" on the official Little House on the Prairie site

https://littlehouseontheprairie.com/dr-george-a-tann-pioneer-physician-and-neighbor-to-the-ingalls/

The All-White World of Children's Books by Nancy Larrick (search the Internet for the PDF)

Researcher Nancy Cleaveland pioneergirl.com

Diploma Mill by David Alan Johnson

https://www.kentstateuniversitypress.com/2017/diploma-mill/