The Legendary Mr. & Mrs. Eastman

EDCI658

Fall 2006

Charles Eastman (Hakadah) (1858-1939)

Hakadah means “pitiful last” Born in Minnesota to a Santee Sioux family Mother died after giving birth to him His grandmother on father’s side provided

important education to him His father and brother were imprisoned after a

massacre in Minnesota and the whole family fled to British Columbia

Hakadah’s uncle became his advisor and teacher

Charles Eastman (Hakadah) (1858-1939)

At the age of 15, Hakadah rejoined his father, who had been converted by pioneer missionaries

His father took him to South Dakota where Hakadah had to wear “civilized” clothes, learn about Bible, and began his formal education

Hakadah attended Santee Normal School where he adopted the name Charles

Went to Beloit preparatory college in Wisconsin Moved to Knox College Transferred to Dartmouth College

Charles Eastman (Hakadah) (1858-1939)

Enrolled in the Boston University School of Medicine and earned his M. D. in 1890

His first job as a physician is with Pine Ridge, South Dakota Indian agency where he met and married Elaine Goodale

Elaine Goodale (1863-1953)

Born on a farm in New England She read Shakespeare, Dickens, Hawthorne, Longfellow She and sister Dora published their first book of poetry,

Apple Blossoms: Verses of Two Children ,when she as only 15

When she was 20, General Samuel Chapman Armstrong, founder of Hampton Institute, offered her a position as a teacher for 100 Sioux Indians

In 1886, she moved to Dakota to work as a teacher at an Indian Day School on a Sioux reservation

Elaine Goodale (1863-1953)

She was appointed Supervisor of Indian Education for the Two Dakotas

She worked against the system that removed Native American children from their families and sent them to distant boarding schools

She was torn between her feelings of superiority of her own Anglo culture and the fear that the Indian children would lost their own culture and identity if they were Christianized or westernized

The Couple They fell in love in six weeks and got engaged Experienced the Wounded Knee Massacre Elaine served as a nurse, and Charles as a doctor Within six months they got married in New York in a highly

publicized wedding Elaine spoke her marriage as “my gift of myself to a Sioux” Charles lost his job because he had treated the survivors

of the Wounded Knee They moved to St. Paul where Charles practiced medicine

but endured harsh racism

The Couple

Charles worked with YMCA to set up units for Indians

He lost his job again because of his trouble with the government’s Bureau of Indian Affairs

They had six children Elaine encouraged Charles to write about his

Indian childhood when the couple was experiencing poverty

Indian Boyhood (1902) Wigwam Evenings (1909, coauthored with Elaine) The Soul of the Indian (1911)

The Couple Sought to reconcile the opposing values and beliefs of

white society and Sioux culture Charles served as lobbyist for the restoration of

Santee Sioux treaty rights and make a lot of public presentations on Indian rights

They moved from South Dakota to Minnesota and finally to Massachusetts

Charles became active in the Boy Scout movement They established a girl’s summer camp and run it for

about nine years Charles served as an advisor on Indian policy during

the Coolidge administration

Their Importance in Education

Charles Eastman gives us a firsthand account of the Native American method of informal education

Charles Eastman sought to preserve Indian culture he grew up to his own children who lived in white culture

Elaine had considerable influence on the U. S. government’s policies toward the education of Native American children; her voice was more heard partly because she was herself a white woman

Native American Philosophy of Education

Indian children were taught how things behave so that they could analyze other similar behavior

Child’s relationship with natural world was fostered by his parents and elders with increasing sophistication

Knowledge and understanding were not obtained y intuition but by training

Education emphasized more on imitation and direct application

Religion was the center of education Emphasized discipline, morals, manners, and

generosity

Sample Writings of Elaine

Ashes of Roses Soft on the sunset sky

Bright daylight closes,Leaving when light doth die,Pale hues that mingling lie -Ashes of roses.

When love's warm sun is set,Love's brightness closes;Eyes with hot tears are wet,In hearts there linger yetAshes of roses.

Sample Writings of Charles

“Very early, the Indian boy assumed the task of preserving and transmitting the legends of his ancestors and his race. Almost every evening a myth, or a true story of some deed done in the past was narrated by one of the parents or grandparents while the boy listened with parted lips and glistening eyes. On the following evening, he was required to repeat it. The household became his audience by which he was alternatively criticized and applauded. This sort of teaching at once enlightens the boy’s mind and stimulates his ambition…”

Sample Writings of Charles

“His conception of his future careers comes as a vivid and irresistible force. Whatever there is for him to learn must be learned; whatever qualifications are necessary to a truly great man he must seek at any expense of danger and hardship. Such was the feeling of the imaginative and brave young Indian. It became apparent to him early in life that he must accustom himself to rove alone and not to fear or dislike the impression of solitude”

An Indian Boy’s Training

Resources on Charles Eastman

http://www.worldwisdom.com/Public/SlideShows/SlideShow.asp?SlideShowID=3

http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A29 http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/enl

311/eastman.htm http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/if_you_knew/if

_you_knew_11.html http://www.indians.org/welker/ohiyesa.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eastman http://www.indigenouspeople.net/ohiyesa.htm

Resources on Elaine Goodale Eastman http://unp.unl.edu/bookinfo/4795.html http://www.gp-chautauqua.org/html/alexander_on_eastm

an.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine_Goodale http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0043-3810(197904)10%3A2

%3C226%3ASTTSTM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0732-7730(199423)13%3A2

%3C271%3ACAE(AE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-O http://www.giga-usa.com/gigaweb1/quotes2/quautgoodal

eelainex001.htm

Other Resources http://www.lastoftheindependents.com/wounded.htm http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/knee.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/

woundedknee/WKIntro.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hampton_University http://oeop.larc.nasa.gov/nap/tribes.html http://www.americanindians.com/ http://www.americanwest.com/pages/indrank.htm