Charles Eastman
Encyclopedia
Charles Alexander Eastman (born Hakadah and later named Ohíye S’a; February 19, 1858 – January 8, 1939) was a Native American
physician
, writer, national lecturer, and reformer. He was of Santee Sioux and Anglo-American
ancestry. Active in politics and issues on American Indian
rights, he worked to improve the lives of youths, and founded 32 Native American chapters of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). He also helped found the Boy Scouts of America
. He is considered the first Native American author to write American history from the native point of view.
to English being "pitiful last". Eastman was so named because his mother died following his birth.
He was the last of five children of Wakantakawin, a mixed-race woman also known as Mary Nancy Eastman. Eastman's father, a Santee Sioux named Wak-anhdi Ota (Many Lightnings), lived on a Dakota (Santee Sioux) reservation near Redwood Falls, Minnesota
.
Eastman's mother was the daughter of U.S. Army officer and illustrator Seth Eastman, and Wakháŋ Inážiŋ Wiŋ (Stands Sacred), who married in 1830. Eastman was posted to Fort Snelling, near what is now Minneapolis, and married the fifteen-year-old daughter of Cloud Man, a Dakotah (Santee Sioux) chief. Seth Eastman was reassigned from Fort Snelling in 1832, soon after the birth of Winona (meaning First-born daughter). He declared his marriage ended when he left, as was typical of many European-American men. Winona was later called Wakantakawin.
In the Sioux tradition of naming to mark life passages, her last son Hakadah was later named Ohíye S’a (Dakota
for "wins often") had three older brothers (John, David, and James) and an older sister Mary. During the Dakota War of 1862
, Ohíye S’a was separated from his father Wak-anhdi Ota and siblings, and they were thought to have died. His maternal grandmother Stands Sacred (Wakháŋ Inážiŋ Wiŋ) and her family took the boy with them as they fled from the warfare into North Dakota
and Manitoba
, Canada
.
Fifteen years later Ohíyesa was reunited with his father and oldest brother John in South Dakota
. The father had by then convert
ed to Christianity, after which he took the surname Eastman and called himself Jacob. John also converted and took the surname Eastman. The Eastman family established a homestead in Dakota Territory
. When Ohiyesa accepted Christianity, he took the name Charles Alexander Eastman.
His father strongly supported his sons' getting an education in European-American style schools. Eastman and his older brother John attended mission
and preparatory schools, and college. Eastman first attended Beloit College
and Knox colleges; he graduated from Dartmouth College
in 1887. He went on to medical school at Boston University
, where he graduated in 1889 and became the first Native American to be certified as a European-style doctor.
His older brother became a minister. Rev. John (Maȟpiyawaku Kida) Eastman was a Presbyterian missionary
at the Santee Sioux settlement of Flandreau, South Dakota
.
(BIA) Indian Health Service
on the Pine Ridge Reservation and later at the Crow Creek Reservation
, both in South Dakota
. He cared for Indians after the Wounded Knee
massacre. He later established a private medical practice after being forced out of his position, but was not able to make it succeed.
As they were struggling financially, his European-American wife Elaine Goodale Eastman encouraged him to write some of the stories of his childhood. At her suggestion (and with her editing help), he published the first two in 1893 and 1894 in St. Nicholas Magazine
. It had earlier published poetry of hers. These stories were collected in his first book.
Between 1894-98, Eastman established 32 Indian groups of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), and established leadership programs and outdoor youth camps. In 1899, he helped recruit students for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School
in Pennsylvania
, which had been established as the first boarding school run by the government.
In 1902 Eastman published a memoir, Indian Boyhood, recounting his first fifteen years of life among the Sioux during the later years of the nineteenth century. In the following two decades, he wrote ten more books, most concerned with his Native American culture. Ruth Ann Alexander, a scholar of his wife Elaine Goodale Eastman, noted that she worked more intensively on Eastman's stories about Indian life than she was given credit .This was a way to share his life and use her literary talents; he published nothing after they separated. Carol Lea Clark viewed their collaboration this way: "together they produced works of a public popularity that neither could produce separately."
Some of his books were translated in his time into French
, German
and other European languages, and the books have enjoyed regular reprints. A selection of his writings was published recently as The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa)
(2007).
Inspired by his writings, Ernest Thompson Seton
sought Eastman's counsel in forming the Woodcraft Indians
, which became a popular group for boys. The New York YMCA asked both Seton and Eastman to help them design the YMCA Indian Scouts for urban boys, using rooftop gardens and city parks for their activities. In 1910, Seton invited Eastman to work with him and Daniel Carter Beard
, of the Sons of Daniel Boone
, to found the Boy Scouts of America
(BSA). Luther Gulick
also consulted with Eastman to assist his developing the Camp Fire Girls with his wife Charlotte.
With his fame as an author and lecturer, Eastman promoted the fledgling Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls. He advised them on how to organize their summer camps, and directly managed one of the first Boy Scout camps along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay
. His daughter Irene worked as a counselor at a Camp Fire Girl camp in Pittsburgh. In 1915 the Eastman family organized its own summer camp at Granite Lake, New Hampshire, where all the family worked for years. Charles served as a BSA national councilman for many years.
In 1911, Eastman was chosen to represent the American Indian at the Universal Races Congress in London. Throughout his speeches and teachings, he emphasized peace and living in harmony with nature.
He was active in national politics, particularly in matters dealing with Indian rights. He served as a lobbyist (sometimes taking on attorney-like responsibilities to plead their cases) for the Dakota between 1894 and 1897. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt
assigned Eastman to help members of the Sioux (Dakota, Nakota, Lakota) to choose English legal names to prevent individuals and families from losing their allotted lands due to confusion over names. Eastman was one of the co-founders of the Society of American Indian (SAI), which pushed for freedom and self-determination for the Indian. From 1923-25, Eastman served as an appointed US Indian inspector under President Calvin Coolidge
.
The Coolidge administration invited Eastman to the Committee of One Hundred, a reform panel examining federal institutions and activities dealing with Indian nations. This committee recommended an in-depth investigation into reservation life (health, education, economics, justice, civil rights, etc.) It resulted in the groundbreaking Meriam Report. The findings and recommendations served as the basis of the Roosevelt Administration's New Deal for the Indian, which sought freedom and self-determination for them.
In 1925, the Bureau of Indian Affairs
asked Eastman to investigate the death and burial location of Sacagawea
, the young woman who guided and interpreted for the Lewis and Clark Expedition
in 1805. He determined that she died of old age at the Wind River Indian Reservation
in Wyoming
on April 9, 1884. More recently, because of newly discovered contemporary records, historians believe that she died in 1812 as a result of an illness following childbirth, at Fort Lisa (North Dakota)
, in what became North Dakota
.
, who was serving as Superintendent of Indian Education for the Two Dakotas. She had first taught at Hampton Institute, which then had about 100 Native American students, in addition to African Americans, and at an Indian day school in South Dakota. She supported expanding day schools on reservations for education, rather than sending Native American children away from their families to boarding schools.
The Eastmans had six children together: five daughters and a son. The marriage prospered at first, and Elaine was always interested in Indian issues. Eastman's many jobs, failure to provide financially for the family, and absences on the lecture circuit, put increasing strain on the couple. In 1903, at Elaine's request, they returned to Massachusetts
, where the family was based in Amherst.
Charles was traveling extensively, and Goodale Eastman took over managing his public appearances. He lectured about 25 times a year across the country. These were productive years for their literary collaboration; he published eight books and she published three. She and Charles separated about 1921, following the death of their daughter Irene in 1918 from influenza
during the epidemic
. They never divorced or publicly acknowledged the separation.
Theodore Sargent, a recent biographer of Goodale, noted that Eastman gained acclaim for the nine books he published on Sioux life, whereas Goodale Eastman's seven books received little notice.
Others have suggested their differing views on assimilation led to strain. Alexander said the catalyst was an unfounded rumor that Eastman had an affair with a counselor at their camp in 1921 and got her pregnant, after which he and Goodale separated. Although the rumor was said to have been untrue, the couple did not reconcile.
, where he spent his later-year summers. He wintered in Detroit with his only son Charles, Jr., also called Ohiseya. On January 8, 1939 the senior Eastman died in Detroit of a heart attack at the age of 80.
Elaine Goodale Eastman was close to two daughters and families who lived in Massachusetts. Another lived in New Hampshire. Goodale Eastman died in 1953 and was buried in Northampton.
(2007), Eastman was portrayed by the actors Adam Beach
and Chevez Ezaneh
.
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, writer, national lecturer, and reformer. He was of Santee Sioux and Anglo-American
English American
English Americans are citizens or residents of the United States whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England....
ancestry. Active in politics and issues on American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
rights, he worked to improve the lives of youths, and founded 32 Native American chapters of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). He also helped found the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
. He is considered the first Native American author to write American history from the native point of view.
Early life and education
Eastman was named Hakadah at his birth, the translations from DakotaDakota language
Dakota is a Siouan language spoken by the Dakota people of the Sioux tribes. Dakota is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language.-Dialects:...
to English being "pitiful last". Eastman was so named because his mother died following his birth.
He was the last of five children of Wakantakawin, a mixed-race woman also known as Mary Nancy Eastman. Eastman's father, a Santee Sioux named Wak-anhdi Ota (Many Lightnings), lived on a Dakota (Santee Sioux) reservation near Redwood Falls, Minnesota
Redwood Falls, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 5,459 people, 2,266 households, and 1,389 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,167.1 people per square mile . There were 2,377 housing units at an average density of 508.2 per square mile...
.
Eastman's mother was the daughter of U.S. Army officer and illustrator Seth Eastman, and Wakháŋ Inážiŋ Wiŋ (Stands Sacred), who married in 1830. Eastman was posted to Fort Snelling, near what is now Minneapolis, and married the fifteen-year-old daughter of Cloud Man, a Dakotah (Santee Sioux) chief. Seth Eastman was reassigned from Fort Snelling in 1832, soon after the birth of Winona (meaning First-born daughter). He declared his marriage ended when he left, as was typical of many European-American men. Winona was later called Wakantakawin.
In the Sioux tradition of naming to mark life passages, her last son Hakadah was later named Ohíye S’a (Dakota
Dakota language
Dakota is a Siouan language spoken by the Dakota people of the Sioux tribes. Dakota is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language.-Dialects:...
for "wins often") had three older brothers (John, David, and James) and an older sister Mary. During the Dakota War of 1862
Dakota War of 1862
The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, was an armed conflict between the United States and several bands of the eastern Sioux. It began on August 17, 1862, along the Minnesota River in southwest Minnesota...
, Ohíye S’a was separated from his father Wak-anhdi Ota and siblings, and they were thought to have died. His maternal grandmother Stands Sacred (Wakháŋ Inážiŋ Wiŋ) and her family took the boy with them as they fled from the warfare into North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
and Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Fifteen years later Ohíyesa was reunited with his father and oldest brother John in South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
. The father had by then convert
Convert
The convert or try, in American football known as "point after", and Canadian football "Point after touchdown", is a one-scrimmage down played immediately after a touchdown during which the scoring team is allowed to attempt to score an extra one point by kicking the ball through the uprights , or...
ed to Christianity, after which he took the surname Eastman and called himself Jacob. John also converted and took the surname Eastman. The Eastman family established a homestead in Dakota Territory
Dakota Territory
The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of North and South Dakota.The Dakota Territory consisted of...
. When Ohiyesa accepted Christianity, he took the name Charles Alexander Eastman.
His father strongly supported his sons' getting an education in European-American style schools. Eastman and his older brother John attended mission
Mission (Christian)
Christian missionary activities often involve sending individuals and groups , to foreign countries and to places in their own homeland. This has frequently involved not only evangelization , but also humanitarian work, especially among the poor and disadvantaged...
and preparatory schools, and college. Eastman first attended Beloit College
Beloit College
Beloit College is a liberal arts college in Beloit, Wisconsin, USA. It is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and has an enrollment of roughly 1,300 undergraduate students. Beloit is the oldest continuously operated college in Wisconsin, and has the oldest building of any college...
and Knox colleges; he graduated from Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
in 1887. He went on to medical school at Boston University
Boston University
Boston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
, where he graduated in 1889 and became the first Native American to be certified as a European-style doctor.
His older brother became a minister. Rev. John (Maȟpiyawaku Kida) Eastman was a Presbyterian missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
at the Santee Sioux settlement of Flandreau, South Dakota
Flandreau, South Dakota
Flandreau is a city in Moody County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 2,341 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Moody County...
.
Career
Charles Eastman worked as agency physician for the Bureau of Indian AffairsBureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
(BIA) Indian Health Service
Indian Health Service
Indian Health Service is an Operating Division within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services . IHS is responsible for providing medical and public health services to members of federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Natives...
on the Pine Ridge Reservation and later at the Crow Creek Reservation
Crow Creek Reservation
The Crow Creek Indian Reservation is located in parts of Buffalo, Hughes, and Hyde counties on the east bank of the Missouri River in central South Dakota in the United States. It has a land area of 421.658 sq mi and a 2000 census population of 2,225 persons...
, both in South Dakota
South Dakota
South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
. He cared for Indians after the Wounded Knee
Wounded Knee Massacre
The Wounded Knee Massacre happened on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA. On the day before, a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M...
massacre. He later established a private medical practice after being forced out of his position, but was not able to make it succeed.
As they were struggling financially, his European-American wife Elaine Goodale Eastman encouraged him to write some of the stories of his childhood. At her suggestion (and with her editing help), he published the first two in 1893 and 1894 in St. Nicholas Magazine
St. Nicholas Magazine
St. Nicholas Magazine was a popular children's magazine, founded by Scribner's in 1873. The first editor was Mary Mapes Dodge, who continued her association with the magazine until her death in 1905. Dodge published work by the country's best writers, including Louisa May Alcott, Francis Hodgson...
. It had earlier published poetry of hers. These stories were collected in his first book.
Between 1894-98, Eastman established 32 Indian groups of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), and established leadership programs and outdoor youth camps. In 1899, he helped recruit students for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Carlisle Indian Industrial School was an Indian boarding school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1879 at Carlisle, Pennsylvania by Captain Richard Henry Pratt, the school was the first off-reservation boarding school, and it became a model for Indian boarding schools in other locations...
in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, which had been established as the first boarding school run by the government.
In 1902 Eastman published a memoir, Indian Boyhood, recounting his first fifteen years of life among the Sioux during the later years of the nineteenth century. In the following two decades, he wrote ten more books, most concerned with his Native American culture. Ruth Ann Alexander, a scholar of his wife Elaine Goodale Eastman, noted that she worked more intensively on Eastman's stories about Indian life than she was given credit .This was a way to share his life and use her literary talents; he published nothing after they separated. Carol Lea Clark viewed their collaboration this way: "together they produced works of a public popularity that neither could produce separately."
Some of his books were translated in his time into French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
and other European languages, and the books have enjoyed regular reprints. A selection of his writings was published recently as The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa)
The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa)
The Essential Charles Eastman is a compilation of the writings of Charles Eastman. A 19th century Native American author and activist, Eastman lived both in the world of the Santee Sioux and the world of contemporary white America...
(2007).
Inspired by his writings, Ernest Thompson Seton
Ernest Thompson Seton
Ernest Thompson Seton was a Scots-Canadian who became a noted author, wildlife artist, founder of the Woodcraft Indians, and one of the founding pioneers of the Boy Scouts of America . Seton also influenced Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting...
sought Eastman's counsel in forming the Woodcraft Indians
Woodcraft Indians
The League of Woodcraft Indians was an American youth program, established by Ernest Thompson Seton. Despite the name, it was developed for non-Indian boys. It was later renamed the "Woodcraft League of America", and would also allow girls to join...
, which became a popular group for boys. The New York YMCA asked both Seton and Eastman to help them design the YMCA Indian Scouts for urban boys, using rooftop gardens and city parks for their activities. In 1910, Seton invited Eastman to work with him and Daniel Carter Beard
Daniel Carter Beard
Daniel Carter "Uncle Dan" Beard was an American illustrator, author, youth leader, and social reformer who founded the Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905, which Beard later merged with the Boy Scouts of America .-Early life:...
, of the Sons of Daniel Boone
Sons of Daniel Boone
The Sons of Daniel Boone was a youth program developed by Daniel Carter Beard in 1905 based on the American Frontiersman. When Dan Beard joined the Boy Scouts of America in 1910 as one of their National Scout Commissioners, he merged his group into the fledgling BSA.Boys were organized into "Forts"...
, to found the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
(BSA). Luther Gulick
Luther Gulick
Luther Gulick is the name of:* Luther Gulick , American physical education instructor, international basketball official, and founder of the Camp Fire Girls* Luther Gulick , scholar of public administration...
also consulted with Eastman to assist his developing the Camp Fire Girls with his wife Charlotte.
With his fame as an author and lecturer, Eastman promoted the fledgling Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls. He advised them on how to organize their summer camps, and directly managed one of the first Boy Scout camps along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay
Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...
. His daughter Irene worked as a counselor at a Camp Fire Girl camp in Pittsburgh. In 1915 the Eastman family organized its own summer camp at Granite Lake, New Hampshire, where all the family worked for years. Charles served as a BSA national councilman for many years.
In 1911, Eastman was chosen to represent the American Indian at the Universal Races Congress in London. Throughout his speeches and teachings, he emphasized peace and living in harmony with nature.
He was active in national politics, particularly in matters dealing with Indian rights. He served as a lobbyist (sometimes taking on attorney-like responsibilities to plead their cases) for the Dakota between 1894 and 1897. In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
assigned Eastman to help members of the Sioux (Dakota, Nakota, Lakota) to choose English legal names to prevent individuals and families from losing their allotted lands due to confusion over names. Eastman was one of the co-founders of the Society of American Indian (SAI), which pushed for freedom and self-determination for the Indian. From 1923-25, Eastman served as an appointed US Indian inspector under President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
.
The Coolidge administration invited Eastman to the Committee of One Hundred, a reform panel examining federal institutions and activities dealing with Indian nations. This committee recommended an in-depth investigation into reservation life (health, education, economics, justice, civil rights, etc.) It resulted in the groundbreaking Meriam Report. The findings and recommendations served as the basis of the Roosevelt Administration's New Deal for the Indian, which sought freedom and self-determination for them.
In 1925, the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
asked Eastman to investigate the death and burial location of Sacagawea
Sacagawea
Sacagawea ; was a Lemhi Shoshone woman, who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition, acting as an interpreter and guide, in their exploration of the Western United States...
, the young woman who guided and interpreted for the Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...
in 1805. He determined that she died of old age at the Wind River Indian Reservation
Wind River Indian Reservation
Wind River Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation shared by the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes of Native Americans in the central western portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming...
in Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
on April 9, 1884. More recently, because of newly discovered contemporary records, historians believe that she died in 1812 as a result of an illness following childbirth, at Fort Lisa (North Dakota)
Fort Lisa (North Dakota)
The first Fort Lisa , also known as the Fort Manuel Lisa Trading Post and as Fort Manuel, was started by the notable fur trader Manuel Lisa of the Missouri Fur Company in 1809. It was located near the Gros Ventres village located between the mouth of the Little Missouri and that of the Big Knife...
, in what became North Dakota
North Dakota
North Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
.
Personal life
In 1891, Eastman married the poet and Indian welfare activist Elaine GoodaleElaine Goodale
Elaine Goodale Eastman and Dora Read Goodale were American poets and sisters, who published their first poetry as children still living at home, and were included in Edmund Clarence Stedman's classic An American Anthology .Elaine Goodale taught at the Indian Department of Hampton Institute,...
, who was serving as Superintendent of Indian Education for the Two Dakotas. She had first taught at Hampton Institute, which then had about 100 Native American students, in addition to African Americans, and at an Indian day school in South Dakota. She supported expanding day schools on reservations for education, rather than sending Native American children away from their families to boarding schools.
The Eastmans had six children together: five daughters and a son. The marriage prospered at first, and Elaine was always interested in Indian issues. Eastman's many jobs, failure to provide financially for the family, and absences on the lecture circuit, put increasing strain on the couple. In 1903, at Elaine's request, they returned to Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, where the family was based in Amherst.
Charles was traveling extensively, and Goodale Eastman took over managing his public appearances. He lectured about 25 times a year across the country. These were productive years for their literary collaboration; he published eight books and she published three. She and Charles separated about 1921, following the death of their daughter Irene in 1918 from influenza
Influenza
Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae , that affects birds and mammals...
during the epidemic
Epidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
. They never divorced or publicly acknowledged the separation.
Theodore Sargent, a recent biographer of Goodale, noted that Eastman gained acclaim for the nine books he published on Sioux life, whereas Goodale Eastman's seven books received little notice.
Others have suggested their differing views on assimilation led to strain. Alexander said the catalyst was an unfounded rumor that Eastman had an affair with a counselor at their camp in 1921 and got her pregnant, after which he and Goodale separated. Although the rumor was said to have been untrue, the couple did not reconcile.
Later lives
Charles Eastman built a cabin on the eastern shore of Lake HuronLake Huron
Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...
, where he spent his later-year summers. He wintered in Detroit with his only son Charles, Jr., also called Ohiseya. On January 8, 1939 the senior Eastman died in Detroit of a heart attack at the age of 80.
Elaine Goodale Eastman was close to two daughters and families who lived in Massachusetts. Another lived in New Hampshire. Goodale Eastman died in 1953 and was buried in Northampton.
Legacy and honors
- As a child, Ohiyesa had learned about herbal medicine from his grandmother. Going to medical school enabled him to draw from both sides of his heritage in becoming a doctor.
- 1933, Eastman was the first to receive the Indian Achievement Award.
- His several books document Sioux culture at the end of the nineteenth century.
Film portrayal
In the HBO film Bury My Heart at Wounded KneeBury My Heart at Wounded Knee (film)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is a 2007 television film adapted from the book of the same name by Dee Brown. The film was written by Daniel Giat, directed by Yves Simoneau and produced by HBO Films. The book on which the movie is based is a history of Native Americans in the American West in the...
(2007), Eastman was portrayed by the actors Adam Beach
Adam Beach
Adam Ruebin Beach is a Canadian Saulteaux actor.He is best known for his roles as Tommy on Walker, Texas Ranger, Kickin' Wing in Joe Dirt, Marine Private First Class Ira Hayes in Flags of Our Fathers, Private Ben Yazzie in Windtalkers, Dr...
and Chevez Ezaneh
Chevez Ezaneh
Chevez Ezaneh is a young Dene actor who has played characters who are Native Americans, including the young Charles Eastman in the HBO TV film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. Ezaneh won a Young Artist Award in 2008 for the "Best Performance in a TV Movie, Miniseries or Special - Leading Young...
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See also
- List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas
- Native American StudiesNative American StudiesNative American Studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that examines the history, culture, politics, issues and contemporary experience of Native peoples in North America, or, taking a hemispheric approach, the Americas...
- Dictionary of Midwestern Literature, Volume One: The Authors
Works
- Memories of an Indian Boyhood, autobiography; McClure, Philips, 1902.
- Indian Boyhood, New York; McClure, Phillips & Co., 1902. Online at Webroots.
- Red Hunters and Animal People, legends; Harper and Brothers, 1904.
- The Madness of Bald Eagle, legend; 1905.
- Old Indian Days, legends; McClure, 1907.
- Wigwam Evenings: Sioux Folk Tales Retold (co-author with his wife Ellen Goodale Eastman), legends; Little, Brown, 1909.
- Smoky Day's Wigwam Evenings (co-written with Ellen Goodale Eastman), 1910
- The Soul of the Indian: An Interpretation, Houghton, 1911.
- Indian Child Life, nonfiction, Little, Brown, 1913.
- Indian Scout Talks: A Guide for Scouts and Campfire Girls, nonfiction, Little, Brown, 1914. (retitled Indian Scout Craft and Lore, Dover Publications)
- The Indian Today: The Past and Future of the Red American, Doubleday-Page, 1915.
- From the Deep Woods to Civilization: Chapters in the Autobiography of an Indian, autobiography; Little, Brown, 1916.
- Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains, Little, Brown, 1918. Also Online at Webroots.
External links
- Works by Charles Eastman at Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
- Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa): links, bibliography
- Charles Eastman Resource page (bio, photos, bibliography, slideshows, excerpts, links, etc)