Who was Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa)?
in full ceremonial dress,
at age 69
This reader guide is based upon the detailed biography of Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa).
World Wisdom has published a book of the essential writings of Charles Eastman, The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa): Light on the Indian World, with selections of some of his best writing, and a detailed biography.
Ohiyesa was born into the Sioux tribe and lived in the ancient, nomadic way that his ancestors had lived for centuries, free of reservations and the dominant society that was encroaching everywhere on this way.
By the end of his life, he had become a certified MD, had published many successful books read all around the world, had helped establish the Boy Scouts, had worked ceaselessly to promote the wellbeing of American Indian tribes, and had been perhaps the most important force in interpreting for the general public the spiritual depth and greatness of the American Indian tradition, then disappearing rapidly.
How did such a person make such a journey, accumulating such accomplishments and still, under incredible pressure to conform completely to the ways of the dominant society, reaffirm for himself and successive generations the importance, beauty, and power of his heritage?
Eastman was born in a buffalo hide tipi near Redwood Falls, Minnesota, in the winter of 1858. At birth, he was named “Hakadah”, meaning “the pitiful last,” because he was the last of his three brothers and one sister, and his mother died shortly after his birth. She had been the granddaughter of the Sioux chief Cloud Man and the daughter of Stands Sacred and a well-known army officer, Seth Eastman.
These were still the days of nomadic bands of Plains Indians living in relative isolation from the white settlers who were invading their traditional lands.
In his early youth, he received the name Ohiyesa, meaning “the Winner.”
Many Lightnings
Hakadah’s father was named Many Lightnings (Tawakanhdeota). He was a full-blood Sioux, and later took the name Jacob Eastman.
Since Hakadah’s mother had died, the baby was raised in the tribe’s homeland of Minnesota by his grandmother. When he was four, the so-called “Sioux Uprising of 1862” occurred and he became separated from his father, elder brothers and sister, whom the tribe thought had been killed by the whites. Hakadah was taken into exile into Manitoba with the remaining members of his band of Santee Sioux.
For the next eleven years he lived the original nomadic life of his people in the care of his uncle and grandmother. His uncle was a well-known hunter and warrior and gave the youth, now called Ohiyesa, the traditional training of a young hunter, warrior, and member of the tribe. Ohiyesa’s knowledge of these skills and spiritual values would later be reflected in his activities and his writings.
At fifteen, Ohiyesa had just entered Indian manhood and was preparing to embark on his first war-path to avenge the reputed death of his father when his father reappeared! Jacob Eastman had adopted the religion and customs of the whites and had come to take his son back with him.
Ohiyesa was taken to a homestead in Flandreau, Dakota Territory, where his father and other “progressive” Indians had moved. The young man was sent to a mission day school, where his first impulse was to run away and return to the natural ways of his people. However, his father prevailed, and Ohiyesa cut his long hair and began to adopt the clothing and ways of white civilization.
Despite his unhappiness, Ohiyesa applied himself to his studies in school. Two years later he walked 150 miles to attend a better school at Santee, Nebraska, where he excelled. He was soon accepted to the preparatory department of Beloit College in Wisconsin. He was now known primarily as Charles Eastman.
Charles Eastman spent two years at Beloit before moving on to two other colleges and then eventually to Dartmouth College. He graduated from Dartmouth in 1887.
Charles Eastman then enrolled as a medical student at Boston University. He graduated in 1890 with his medical degree and the honor of being the orator of his class. He had spent a total of 17 years in primary, secondary, college, and professional education, much less time than is usually required for most students. And, it should be remembered, he had only started formal studies, including English, at age 15!
During his studies in the East he had made the acquaintance of many prominent people who would later help him further his career. With such help, his first position was as Government Physician for the Sioux at the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. He was there before, during, and after the “Ghost Dance” rebellion of 1890-1891, and he cared for the wounded Indians after the massacre at Wounded Knee.
In 1891 Charles Eastman married.
Charles Eastman’s wife was a white woman who was also working at the Pine Ridge reservation, Miss Elaine Goodale of Berkshire County, Massachusetts. Shortly after returning from his wedding in the East, Eastman was forced by the corrupt Indian agent to quit his job at the agency in retaliation for his attempt to help the Sioux prove crimes against the agent and his white friends. In 1893, he, his wife and their new baby moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he started a medical practice.
Soon, however, Charles Eastman accepted a position as field secretary for the International Committee of the YMCA, and spent the next three years traveling throughout the US and Canada visiting many Indian tribes in an attempt to start new YMCAs in those areas.
In 1897 Dr. Eastman went to Washington as the legal representative and lobbyist for the Sioux tribe. From 1899 to 1902 he again served as a government physician to the Sioux, this time at Crow Creek Agency in South Dakota.
Charles Eastman’s first book, Indian Boyhood, was published in 1902. It told the story of his own first years and upbringing and was an immediate success with the public. Charles Eastman wrote a total of 11 books, including:
- Red Hunters and the Animal People (1904),
- Old Indian Days (1906),
- Wigwam Evenings (1909),
- Smoky Day’s Wigwam Evenings: Indian Stories Retold (1910),
- The Soul of the Indian (1911),
- Indian Child Life (1913),
- Indian Scout Talks (1914),
- The Indian Today: The Past and Future of the First American (1915),
- From the Deep Woods to Civilization (1916), and
- Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains (1918).
All of his books were successful, some were used in school editions, and many were translated into French, German, Danish, and Czech languages and have been read all over the world for generations. Eastman also contributed numerous articles to magazines, reviews, and encyclopedias.
The World Wisdom collection of the writings of Charles Eastman, The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa): Light on the Indian World, has selections from a number of his books.
In 1910 Eastman began his long association with the Boy Scouts, helping Ernest Thompson Seton establish the organization based in large part on the prototype of the American Indian.
It was also at about this time that he started to become in high demand as a lecturer and public speaker, traveling extensively in the US and abroad. Eastman was chosen to represent the American Indian at the Universal Races Congress in London in 1911. His public speaking continued for the remainder of his life.
Beginning in 1910 and for the rest of his life, Charles Eastman also became involved with many progressive organizations attempting to improve the circumstances of the various Indian tribes. At one time he was president of the Society of American Indians, one prominent organization of that type.
From 1915 to 1920 the Eastman family created and operated a summer camp for girls, Camp Oahe, at Granite Lake, New Hampshire, attempting to teach Indian life-ways to young girls.
Charles Eastman and his wife separated in August 1921, quite possibly because of opposing views regarding the best future for the American Indian. Elaine Goodale Eastman stressed total assimilation of Native Americans into the dominant society, while Eastman favored a type of cultural pluralism in which Indians would interact with the dominant society, utilizing only those positive aspects that would benefit them but still retaining their Indian identity, including their traditional beliefs and customs—in effect living between two worlds.
Eastman believed that the teachings and spirit of his adopted religion of Christianity and the traditional Indian spiritual beliefs were essentially the same and had their common origins in the same “Great Mystery;” a belief that was controversial to many Christians.
In 1928 Eastman purchased land on the north shore of Lake Huron, near Desbarats, Ontario, Canada. For the remainder of his life, when he was not traveling and lecturing, he lived there in his primitive cabin in communion with the virgin nature that he loved so dearly.
In his last years he spent only the coldest winter months with his son in Detroit, where he died on January 8, 1939, at the age of eighty. For several years toward the end of his life he worked on a major study on the Sioux, but the project was never completed.
In his later adult life Charles Eastman was the foremost Indian spokesman of his day. His contributions to our understanding of the American Indian philosophy and religion are so significant that at the 1933 Chicago World’s
Fair Eastman was presented a special medal honoring the most distinguished achievements by an American Indian.
World Wisdom is honored to present selected writings of this remarkable author, thinker, activist, and contributor to the richness of American culture in the book The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa): Light on the Indian World, edited by Michael Fitzgerald.
Many more details of his life can be found on our Author page for Charles Eastman.
