Charles Eastman

Charles Alexander Eastman (* 1858, † 1939) was an Indian physician and writer. He had an Anglo-American mother.

Eastman was one of the SanteeSioux and studied medicine in Boston. In his autobiographical works he describes the closeness to nature of the Indians as a result of education. Eastman had the massacre of the U.S. Army at the Sioux at Wounded Knee witness and was disillusioned in his sympathy for the Christian charity.

In The Indian Soul (1911 ), he compares an ethnologist Indian and Christian beliefs and practices. Eastman The Indian Today (1915 ) advocates a humanization of Indian policy to allow the Indians to go his own way. Eastman battles against the materialistic worldview of his contemporaries of each color and calls for reflection on tradition and spirituality.

He was instrumental in establishing the Boy Scouts of America (BSA).

Bibliography

• ( Memories of an) Indian Boyhood, autobiography; McClure, Philips, 1902.
• Red Hunters and Animal People, Understanding; Harper and Brothers, 1904.
• The Madness of Bald Eagle, legend; In 1905.
• Old Indian Days, Understanding; McClure, in 1907.
• Wigwam Evenings: Sioux Folk Tales Retold ( with his wife ), Understanding; Little, Brown, 1909.
• The Soul of the Indian: An Interpretation, Houghton, 1911.
• Indian Child Life, non-fiction; Little, Brown, 1913.
• Indian Scout Talks: A Guide for Scouts and Camp Fire Girls, nonfiction; Little, Brown, 1914.
• The Indian Today: The Past and Future of the American Red, Doubleday Page, 1915.
• From the Deep Woods to Civilization: Chapters in the Autobiography of an Indian, an autobiography; Little, Brown, 1916.
• Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains, Little, Brown, 1918.