Charles Eastman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Charles Eastman
Ohíye S'a |
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Charles Eastman
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| Born | February 19, 1858 Near Redwood Falls, Minnesota Territory, United States
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| Died | January 8, 1939 (aged 80) |
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| Spouse(s) | Elaine Goodale Eastman |
| Relatives | Seth Eastman (grandfather) |
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Charles Alexander Eastman (born February 19, 1858 – died January 8, 1939) was an amazing American doctor, writer, and social reformer. A social reformer is someone who works to make society better. He was the first Native American to become a certified doctor in Western medicine. He was also one of the most important writers and speakers about the Sioux way of life and Native American issues in the early 1900s.
Eastman had Santee Dakota, English, and French family roots. After working as a doctor on reservations in South Dakota, he became very active in politics. He fought for Native American rights. He also worked to improve the lives of young people. He even started thirty-two Native American groups for the YMCA. Many people see him as the first Native American author to write American history from a Native American point of view. He also helped create the Boy Scouts of America.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Charles Eastman was born in Minnesota. His first name was Hakadah, which meant "pitiful last" in the Dakota language. He got this name because his mother died soon after he was born. He was the youngest of five children. His mother was Wakantakawin, also known as Mary Nancy Eastman. She was a mixed-race woman. His father was Wak-anhdi Ota (Many Lightnings), a Santee Dakota man. They lived on a Santee Dakota reservation.
Hakadah's mother, Winona, was the only child of Wakháŋ Inážiŋ Wiŋ (Stands Sacred). Stands Sacred was the daughter of Cloud Man, a Santee Dakota chief. Winona's father was Seth Eastman, a U.S. Army officer. He married Stands Sacred in 1830.
Later, Hakadah was given a new name, Ohíye S'a. In the Dakota language, this means "always wins" or "the winner." He had three older brothers and an older sister. During the Dakota War of 1862, Ohíye S'a got separated from his father and siblings. His grandmother, Stands Sacred, took him and her family away from the fighting. They fled to North Dakota and Manitoba, Canada.
About fifteen years later, Ohíyesa met his father and oldest brother, John, again in South Dakota. His father had become a Christian and changed his name to Jacob Eastman. John also became a Christian and took the last name Eastman. The Eastman family started a farm in Dakota Territory. When Ohíyesa became a Christian, he took the name Charles Alexander Eastman.
His father really wanted his sons to get an education in American schools. Charles and his brother John went to a mission school. Then they went to Kimball Union Academy from 1882-1883. Charles went to Dartmouth College and graduated in 1887. He then studied medicine at Boston University. He graduated in 1890. He was one of the first Native Americans to become a doctor trained in Western medicine.
Career
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Medical Practice
After finishing medical school, Charles Eastman went back West. He worked as a doctor for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). He worked on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and later at the Crow Creek Indian Reservation in South Dakota. He helped people after the Wounded Knee Massacre. He treated many injured people. Only seven of the 38 or more people he treated died. He later tried to start his own doctor's office, but it did not make enough money.
He married Elaine Goodale Eastman, who was a teacher from Massachusetts. She was the first Supervisor of Education for North and South Dakota. When they were having money problems, she encouraged him to write stories about his childhood. With her help, he published his first two stories in 1893 and 1894. These stories were later put into his first book, Indian Boyhood.
Eastman became very involved with the YMCA. He worked to help Native American young people. Between 1894 and 1898, he started 32 YMCA groups for Native Americans. He also created leadership programs and outdoor camps for youth. In 1899, he helped find students for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania. This was the first boarding school for Native American children run by the government. Because of his own education, he believed it was good for children to learn about mainstream American culture.
Writing
In 1902, Eastman published his memoir, Indian Boyhood. A memoir is a book about a person's own life. This book told the story of his first fifteen years growing up among the Dakota Sioux. Over the next twenty years, he wrote ten more books. Most of his books were about his Native American culture. In the early 1900s, he was one of the most important writers and speakers about Sioux history and Native American issues. He also became one of the most photographed Native Americans. Sometimes he wore traditional Sioux clothes, and sometimes he wore Euro-American clothes.
Historians have discussed how Eastman and his wife worked together on his books. Many believe that Elaine helped him a lot with editing and typing his stories. Some scholars even think that the books published under Eastman's name were a team effort. After Charles and Elaine separated in 1921, he did not publish any more books. However, other experts believe that Eastman's writing style and content truly came from his Indigenous background.
Some of Eastman's books were translated into French, German, Czech, and other languages. They sold very well and were printed many times. In recent years, a collection of his writings was published as The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa) (2007).
Youth Organizations
Ernest Thompson Seton was inspired by Eastman's writings. He asked Eastman for advice when forming the Woodcraft Indians, a popular group for boys. The YMCA of Greater New York also asked Seton and Eastman to help them create YMCA Indian Scouts for boys in cities.
In 1910, Seton invited Eastman to help him and Daniel Carter Beard create the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Luther Gulick also asked Eastman for advice to help develop the Camp Fire Girls.
Because he was a famous author and speaker, Eastman helped promote the new Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls. He gave them advice on how to organize their summer camps. He even managed one of the first Boy Scout camps. His daughter, Irene, worked as a counselor at a Camp Fire Girl camp. In 1915, the Eastman family started their own summer camp, Camp Oáhe, in New Hampshire. The whole family worked there for many years. Eastman was a national councilman for the BSA for a long time.
National Spokesman
Eastman was active in national politics. He especially focused on issues about Native American rights. He worked as a lobbyist for the Santee Sioux from 1894 to 1897. A lobbyist tries to influence government decisions.
In 1911, Eastman was chosen to represent Native Americans at the Universal Races Congress in London. In his speeches, he always talked about the importance of peace and living in harmony with nature.
In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt asked Eastman to help Sioux tribal members choose English legal names. This was to prevent people from losing their land because of confusion with different naming traditions. Eastman also helped start the Society of American Indians (SAI). This group worked for freedom and self-determination for Native Americans. Self-determination means the right to control their own lives and futures.
From 1923 to 1925, Eastman was a US Indian inspector under President Calvin Coolidge. The Coolidge administration asked Eastman to join the Committee of 100. This group looked at how the government worked with Native American nations. The committee suggested that the government should study life on reservations in detail. This led to the important 1928 Meriam Report. The report's findings helped create the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration's New Deal for Native Americans. This included the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, which helped tribes set up their own governments.
In 1925, the Bureau of Indian Affairs asked Eastman to find out where Sacagawea died and was buried. Sacagawea was the young woman who guided the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Eastman believed she died of old age in Wyoming in 1884. However, based on a recently found journal, modern historians now think she died in 1812.
Personal Life
In 1891, Eastman married Elaine Goodale, a writer and activist for Native American welfare. She was the Superintendent of Indian Education for the Two Dakotas. She believed in having day schools on reservations so Native American children could learn while staying with their families.
The Eastmans had six children: five daughters and one son. Their marriage started well, and Elaine was always interested in Native American issues. However, Eastman's many jobs, money problems, and long trips for lectures put a lot of stress on their marriage. In 1903, they moved to Amherst, Massachusetts.
Eastman traveled a lot for his lectures. Elaine managed his public appearances. He gave about twenty-five lectures a year across the country. These were very productive years for their writing partnership. He published eight books, and she published three. They separated around 1921, after their daughter Irene died from the 1918 flu pandemic. They never divorced or publicly talked about their separation. Some people think their different ideas about Native Americans fitting into American society also caused problems.
Later Life
Charles Eastman built a cabin on the eastern shore of Lake Huron. He spent his summers there in his later years. In the winters, he stayed in Detroit with his only son, Charles, Jr., who was also called Ohiyesa. On January 8, 1939, Charles Eastman died from a heart attack in Detroit. He was eighty years old. He was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Detroit.
Elaine Goodale Eastman lived the rest of her life with two of her daughters and their families in Northampton, Massachusetts. She died in 1953.
Legacy and Honors
- As a child, Ohiyesa learned about herbal medicine from his grandmother. His training in Western medicine allowed him to use knowledge from both parts of his heritage as a doctor.
- He was the only Native American person invited to speak at the First Universal Races Congress in London in 1911.
- His many books help us understand Sioux Dakota culture at the end of the 1800s.
- In 1933, Eastman was the first person to receive the Indian Achievement Award.
- A crater on the planet Mercury was named after him.
Film Portrayal
- In the HBO film Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (2007), actors Adam Beach and Chevez Ezaneh played Charles Eastman at different ages.
- The documentary OHIYESA The Soul of an Indian (2018) follows Kate Beane, a young Dakota woman, as she learns about her famous relative, Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa).
See also
In Spanish: Charles Alexander Eastman para niños
- Black Elk
- Chief Joseph
- Crazy Horse
- Geronimo
- Red Cloud
- Sitting Bull
- List of writers from peoples indigenous to the Americas
- Native American Studies
