Living in Two Worlds: The American Indian Experience (Library of Perennial Philosophy. American Indian Traditions Series)
(This beautifully illustrated book presents a vivid accoun...)
This beautifully illustrated book presents a vivid account of the American Indian experience as seen through the eyes of Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa), the first and greatest of the Native American authors. The importance of Eastman's life story was reiterated for a new generation when the 2007 HBO film entitled Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee used Eastman, played by Adam Beach, as its leading hero.
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Charles Eastman, or Hakadah, as his Sioux relatives and...)
Charles Eastman, or Hakadah, as his Sioux relatives and fellow tribesmen knew him, as a full-blooded Indian boy learned the reticent manners and stoical ways of patience and bravery expected of every young warrior in the 1870's and 1880's. The hunts, games, and ceremonies of his native tribe were all he knew of life until his father, who had spent time with the white man, came to find him.
Indian Boyhood is Eastman's first-hand reminiscence of the life he led until he was fifteen with the nomadic Sioux. Left motherless at birth, he tells how his grandmother saved him from relatives who offered to care for him "until he died." It was that grandmother who sang him the traditional Indian lullabies which are meant to cultivate bravery in all male babies, who taught him not to cry at night (for fear of revealing the whereabouts of the Sioux camp to hostile tribes), and who first explained to him some of the skills he would need to survive as an adult in the wilds. Eastman remembers the uncle who taught him the skills of the hunt and the war-path, and how his day began at first light, when his uncle would startle him from sleep with a terrifying whoop, in response to which the young boy was expected to jump fully alert to his feet, and rush outside, bow in hand, returning the yell that had just awakened him. Yet all Indian life did not consist in training and discipline. In time of abundance and even in famine, Indian children had much time for sport and games of combat races, lacrosse, and wrestling were all familiar to Eastman and his childhood friends.
Here too are observations about Indian character, social custom, and morality. Eastman describes the traditional arrangements by which the tribe governed itself its appointed police force, hunting and warrior scouts, and its tribal council, and how the tribe supported these officers with a kind of taxation. Eastman also includes family and tribal legends of adventure, bravery, and nature that he heard in the lodge of Smoky Day, the tribe historian. But Eastman's own memories of attacks by hostile tribes, flights from the white man's armies, and the dangers of the hunt rival the old legends in capturing a vision of life now long lost.
The Soul of an Indian and Other Writings from Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman) (Classic Reprint)
(That, spring by spring, doth nobler be, And dumbly and mo...)
That, spring by spring, doth nobler be, And dumbly and most wistfully His mighty prayerful arms outspreads, And his big blessing downward sheds. Sidney Lanier. But there sa dome of nobler span, A temple given Thy faith, that bigots dare not ban I ts space is heaven! It sroof star-pictured Nature sceiling, Where, trancing the rapt spirits feeling, And God Himself to man revealing, Th harmonious spheres Make music, though unheard their pealing By mortal ears! Thomas Campbell. God! sing ye meadow streams with gladsome voice! Ye pine-groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds! Ye eagles, playmates of the mountain storm! Ye lightnings, the dread arrows of the clouds! Ye signs and wonders of the elements, Utter forth God, and fill the hills with praise! .. Earth, with her thousand voices, praises GOD! Coleridge.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)
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The Essential Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa): Light on the Indian World (Sacred Worlds)
(This revised and updated edition contains the most import...)
This revised and updated edition contains the most important writings of Charles Eastman (Ohiyesa), the first Native American author to live simultaneously in both the traditional world of the Santee Sioux and the modern civilization of the white man. Dr. Eastman also attended the injured at the Battle of Wounded Knee. Ohiyesa's works represent a complete explanation of the philosophy and moral code of the Plains Indian. Ohiyesa's message speaks to every person who seeks a spiritual way in the midst of a society increasingly dominated by materialism and industrial technology. Sun Dance chief, James Trosper writes, It is a small miracle that these important spiritual teachings have been preserved for us. This new edition contains 10 sepia photographs from Eastman's life and a thought-provoking foreword by Raymond Wilson.
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Raised among the Sioux until the age of 15, Charles Ale...)
Raised among the Sioux until the age of 15, Charles Alexander Eastman (18581939) resolved to become a physician in order to be of the greatest service to his people. Upon completing his education at Boston University School of Medicine, he accepted an appointment to a South Dakota Indian reservation, where he was the only doctor available to the victims of the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. With the encouragement of his wife, he further distinguished himself both as a writer and as a uniquely qualified interpreter of Native American ways. His writings offer authentic, sometimes stirring views of a world that has forever changed.
In The Soul of the Indian, Eastman brings to life the rich spirituality and morality of the Native Americans as they existed before contact with missionaries and other whites. This is a rare firsthand expression of native religion, without the filters imposed by translators or anthropologists. Rather than a scientific treatise, Eastman has written a book, "as true as I can make it to my childhood teaching and ancestral ideals, but from the human, not the ethnological standpoint." His discussions of the forms of ceremonial and symbolic worship, the unwritten scriptures, and the spirit world emphasize the universal quality and personal appeal of Native American religion.
From the Deep Woods to Civilization (Native American)
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In the sequel to Indian Boyhood, Eastman tells of his d...)
In the sequel to Indian Boyhood, Eastman tells of his departure from the reservation at age 15 to receive his education among whites, his experiences as a reservation physician at the Wounded Knee massacre, and of his time in Washington, D.C., where he held a succession of government positions.
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The life of the Indian boy living close to nature, le...)
The life of the Indian boy living close to nature, learning the ways of the wild animals, playing games and learning stories that developed the strength of body and spirit has long been noted for its ability to develop character. In this book Charles Eastman ("Ohiyesa"), a full-blooded Sioux Indian raised as a young warrior in the 1870's and 80's, describes that life the lessons he learned, games he played, and feelings about life that he developed as he worked to become a young Indian scout.
Among the many areas of craft and lore described are the physical training of young boys, making friends with the wild animals, learning the language of footprints, hunting with slingshot and bow and arrow, trapping and fishing, making canoes, setting up camp, building wigwams and other shelters, making fire without matches and cooking without pots, blazing a trail, using Indian signals, gesture language and picture-writing, reading the signs of nature and storytelling, as well as information on winter and summer sports of the Indian boys, names and ceremonies of Indian boys and Indian girls, and the etiquette of the wigwam. Throughout, not only the practices but the reasons and feelings behind them are described. Twenty seven illustrations show many of the crafts and signs described.
Scouts and others who enjoy camping and learning the lessons of outdoor life will find in this book not only new ideas but a feeling of life as it was lived by young Indian boys and girls nearly a century ago. In learning the lessons described in this book you will make new discoveries about nature, about outdoor life, and about yourself.
Charles Eastman was the first Native American physician to serve on the Pine Ridge Reservation and a prolific author of works about Indian life and culture.
Background
Born on February 19, 1858 near Redwood Falls, Minnesota, of mixed Santee Sioux and white parentage. His parents were Jacob Eastman ["Many Lightnings"], a Wahpeton Sioux, and Mary Nancy Eastman, a mixed-blood Sioux who died when he was a baby. His maternal grandfather was artist Seth Eastman. The youngest of five children, and given the name Hakadah ["The Pitiful Last"] because of his mother's early death, Eastman fled with his family from Minnesota to British Columbia following the Sioux Indian Uprising of 1862.
Education
At Charles's father's insistence, Eastman enrolled in the Flandreau Indian School and thus was abruptly introduced into an alien society that he would struggle to understand for the rest of his life. Eastman went on to study at Beloit College, Knox College, Dartmouth College (where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1887), and Boston University (where he received his doctorate in 1890).
Career
Charles Eastman was much influenced in his distinguished career as a writer, physician, and Indian spokesman by two of the last bloody Indian-white conflicts on the North American prairies and plains. He published two autobiographical accounts of his youth-Indian Boyhood and From the Deep Woods to Civilization-which were widely credited with raising white awareness of Indian issues. Ten years later, after thorough training as a hunter and warrior, he was reclaimed by his father, who had been in prison during most of that time for his part in the uprising. In his first position as government physician at Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota, he treated the survivors of the Wounded Knee Massacre. A succession of positions followed with the YMCA and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and he was much in demand in America and England throughout his life as an authority on Indian concerns. With his wife's assistance, Eastman began his career as a published author in 1893 with a series called "Recollections of the Wild Life" in St. Nicholas magazine. Over the next 27 years he gained increasing fame as America's distinguished Indian writer with many more articles and ten books, one of them written jointly with his wife Elaine. From 1897 to 1900 Eastman was a lobbyist for the Santee Sioux Tribe in Washington, D. C. Following one presentation before a Congressional committee, the only responses from the Congressmen were, "Where did you go to school? Why are there not more Indians like you?" Began Literary Career with Autobiography Eastman's literary career began in earnest in 1902 with the publication of Indian Boyhood. He had previously published a handful of short pieces, mostly in Red Man and St. Nicholas magazines, but this autobiography-dedicated to his son Ohiyesa the second-appealed to a wide non-Indian public with its depiction of "the freest life in the world, " as Eastman called it. Eastman wrote ten books, and they established him as the leading apologist for his people and a storyteller of historic significance. Other titles include Red Hunters and the Animal People (1904), stories and legends for youth; Old Indian Days (1907), divided into stories about warriors and women; Smoky Day's Wigwam Evenings: Indian Stories Retold (1910), written with his wife Elaine; The Soul of the Indian (1911), the most fully developed statement of his religious beliefs; and The Indian Today: The Past and Future of the First American (1915), a review of Indian history, contributions, and problems. Eastman's last book was Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains (1918), a collection of short biographies of Sioux leaders written for young people. His training as a physician he used on the Pine Ridge Reservation (1890 - 1893), in private practice in St. Paul, Minnesota (1894 - 1897), and at Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota (1900 - 1903). While in St. Paul he began to work for the YMCA, organizing chapters around the country, and from 1897 to 1900 he lobbied for the Santee Sioux. For seven years (1903 - 09) Eastman was engaged, at Hamlin Garland's urging, in a BIA project to re-name the Sioux, giving them legal names in order to protect their interests. In 1910 he began a lifelong association with the Boy Scouts of America, and from 1914 to 1925 he and Elaine operated a girls' camp near Munsonville, New Hampshire. In 1923 he entered the Indian service for the last time, working until 1925 as an Indian inspector on and off the reservations. The last years of his life, until his death in 1939, Eastman devoted principally to lecturing.
(That, spring by spring, doth nobler be, And dumbly and mo...)
Views
Quotations:
"The Wise Man believes profoundly in silence - the sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or balance of body, mind and spirit. The man who preserves his selfhood ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence - not a leaf, as it were, astire on the tree, not a ripple upon the surface of the shinning pool-his, in the mind of the unlettered sage, is the ideal attitude and conduct of life. Silence is the cornerstone of character. "
"The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade the accumulation of wealth and the enjoyment of luxury. .. Furthermore, it was the rule of his life to share the fruits of his skill and success with his less fortunate brothers. Thus he kept his spirit free from the clog of pride, cupidity, or envy, and carried out, as he believed, the divine decree-a matter profoundly important to him. "
"Nearness to nature. .. keeps the spirit sensitive to impressions not commonly felt and in touch with the unseen powers. "
"It was our belief that the love of possessions is a weakness to be overcome. . . . Children must early learn the beauty of generosity. They are taught to give what they prize most, that they may taste the happiness of giving. . . . The Indians in their simplicity literally give away all that they have—to relatives, to guests of other tribes or clans, but above all to the poor and the aged, from whom they can hope for no return. "
"The true Indian sets no price upon either his property or his labor. His generosity is limited only by his strength and ability. He regards it as an honor to be selected for difficult or dangerous service and would think it shameful to ask for any reward, saying rather: "Let the person I serve express his thanks according to his own bringing up and his sense of honor. Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth, and the Great Silence alone!. What is Silence? It is the Great Mystery! The Holy Silence is His voice!"
"Each soul must meet the morning sun, the new sweet earth and the Great Silence alone.
Charles Alexander Eastman
Inspirational, Sweet, Morning save quote report
Is there not something worthy of perpetuation in our Indian spirit of democracy, where Earth, our mother, was free to all, and no one sought to impoverish or enslave his neighbor?"
"If you ask him: "What is silence?" he will answer, "It is the Great Mystery! The holy silence is His voice!" If you ask: "What are the fruits of silence?" he will say: "They are self-control, true courage or endurance, patience, dignity, and reverence. Silence is the cornerstone of character. "
"He sees no need for setting apart one day in seven as a holy day, since to him all days are God's. "
"The American Indian was an individualist in religion as in war. He had neither a national army nor an organized church. "
"In the life of the Indian there is only one inevitable duty-the duty of prayer-the daily recognition of the Unseen and Eternal. Our daily devotions were more necessary to us than daily food. "
"But to have a friend, and to be true under any and all trials, is the mark of a man!"
"More than this, even in those white men who professed religion we found much inconsistency of conduct. They spoke much of spiritual things, while seeking only the material. "
Personality
Throughout his life, Eastman's reputation as a writer, speaker, and advocate of Indian rights rested largely on the fact that he had made the dramatic transition from the life of a traditional Sioux Indian in the wilds of Canada to the drawing rooms and lecture halls of white America. As an articulate and accomplished physician, with a dynamic wife who spoke Lakota like a native, Eastman amazed many auditors and readers. Even some Congressmen were startled, as Rob Eshman points out in the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine. His work "the freest life in the world" consists of his earliest recollections from childhood; tributes to Uncheedah, his paternal grandmother who reared him, and to Mysterious Medicine, his uncle who taught him the lore of a life lived close to nature; and a moving conclusion that recounts the return of his father, just released from the federal penitentiary at Davenport, Iowa. Of his grandmother, Eastman wrote, she "was a wonder to the young maidens of the tribe. " Although she was 60 years old, she cared for Eastman as if he were her own child. "Every little attention that is due to a loved child she performed with much skill and devotion. She made all my scanty garments and my tiny moccasins with a great deal of taste. It was said by all that I could not have had more attention had my mother been living. "For his uncle, his father's brother, Eastman had the greatest admiration. He characterized the warrior as "a father to me for ten years of my life, " a teacher with infinite patience who knew his subject-nature-thoroughly. Said Eastman, "Nothing irritated him more than to hear some natural fact misrepresented. I have often thought that with education he might have made a Darwin or an Agassiz. " But Mysterious Medicine also realized that the things he knew and taught would soon lose their value. After telling Eastman the story of one of his most exciting hunting adventures, he concluded: "But all this life is fast disappearing, and the world is becoming different. " The world became shockingly different for Eastman when his father sought him out in Canada in 1873 and returned him to the United States, to Flandreau, Dakota Territory, where a group of Santees lived as homesteaders among the whites. "Here, " wrote Eastman, "my wild life came to an end, and my school days began. " It was an ironic reunion and return, for Eastman had thought his father dead, had pledged himself to take revenge upon the whites for that death, and now would be living among them with his father and adopting their ways. Eastman would go on to publish the sequel to Indian Boyhood in 1916, when From the Deep Woods to Civilization appeared. In it, as Raymond Wilson concludes in Ohiyesa: Charles Eastman, Santee Sioux, Eastman presents a more realistic picture of the white world, "openly attacking the evils of white society and lamenting the sorrows Indians encountered as a result of cultural contact. .. ." In particular, his versions of the controversies in which he was embroiled at Pine Ridge and later at Crow Creek are clearly presented in a one-sided way. In addition, the pervasive tone of innocence in Indian Boyhood is now replaced by one of frustration, expressed in its most ironic form by his comment on his years at Dartmouth College: "It was here that I had most of my savage gentleness and native refinement knocked out of me. I do not complain, for I know that I gained more than their equivalent. " Above all, Eastman was profoundly depressed by the failure of Americans to practice the Christianity that they professed, so that the meek might inherit the earth and "the peacemakers receive high honor. " Instead, he wrote in From the Deep Woods to Civilization, "When I reduce civilization to its lowest terms, it becomes a system of life based upon trade. .. .". Throughout the years that Charles and Elaine Eastman lived together, she served as his editorial assistant in all of his writing. Although on occasion Eastman resented some of Elaine's rewriting, she seems to have been essential to his publishing success, for after their separation in 1921 he published nothing more. What he had done by then was to contribute substantially to a better understanding by whites of Indians in general and the Sioux in particular. As a cultural bridge builder in the early twentieth century, Eastman was unequaled. Throughout his career as a writer, Eastman also served his people and the larger society in a variety of roles.
Quotes from others about the person
Wilson explained, Eastman's books "provide a bridge to self-respect . .. expressing their stories, beliefs, and customs in the language of White men. "
Connections
In South Dakota met he and married-Elaine Goodale, a poet, educator, and reformer. They had 7 children.