From the Deep Woods to Civilization
Charles Alexander Eastman
language
(, Oct. 22, 2016)
“The most prominent literary spokesman of the Indian … his achievement will remain unique.” –New York Medical Journal “Many a thrilling episode … a gripping lesson in each chapter … interesting.” –American Indian Magazine“Breaking down prejudices and destroying old enmities … a good story delightfully told.” –The Independent“Indian Boyhood,” published first in 1902 and in many subsequent editions, pictured the first of three distinct periods in the life of the writer of this book, Charles Alexander Eastman. His childhood and youth were a part of the free wilderness life of the first American — a life that is gone forever!Eastman’s 1916 book “From the Deep Woods to Civilization Begins” where the writer's earlier book “Indian Boyhood” left off, when he left his wild life to enter mission school, and continues thru his years at Beloit and Dartmouth, his medical studies at Boston university and his subsequent work for his people as government physician and Y. M. C. A. Indian secretary. This simple sincere account not only covers the facts in the life of this nearly full-blooded Sioux Indian, but gives glimpses of his feelings, his impressions gathered in college and later life, and his aspirations for himself and his people. In this unique story of his school days Dr. Eastman tells of his upward climb to civilization. It was not until he had entered college that the full meaning of civilization flashed upon the mental vision of this Indian youth. "I saw it as the development of every natural resource;" he tells us, "the broad brotherhood of mankind; the blending of all languages and the gathering of all races' under one religious faith." When this realization came he says a little later, "I took off my soft moccasins and put on the heavy and clumsy but durable shoes." There is a wealth of meaning for the Indian in that last sentence. Eastman writes of his Indian tribal life:"During the summer and winter of 1871, the band of Sioux to which I belonged — a clan of the Wah'petons, or "Dwellers among the Leaves" — roamed in the upper Missouri region and along the Yellowstone River. In that year I tasted to the full the joy and plenty of wild existence. I saw buffalo, elk, and antelope in herds numbering thousands. The forests teemed with deer, and in the "Bad Lands" dwelt the Big Horns or Rocky Mountain sheep. At this period, grizzly bears were numerous and were brought into camp quite commonly, like any other game. "IN the summer of 1910, I accepted a commission to search out and purchase rare curios and ethnological specimens for one of the most important collections in the country. Very few genuine antiques are now to be found among Indians living on reservations, and the wilder and more scattered bands who still treasure them cannot easily be induced to give them up.""My chief object has been, not to entertain, but to present the American Indian in his true character before Americans. The barbarous and atrocious character commonly attributed to him has dated from the transition period, when the strong drink, powerful temptations, and commercialism of the white man led to deep demoralization. Really it was a campaign of education on the Indian and his true place in American history."Charles Alexander Eastman (1858 – 1939) was a Santee Dakota physician educated at Boston University, writer, national lecturer, and reformer. In the early 20th century, he was "one of the most prolific authors and speakers on Sioux ethnohistory and American Indian affairs. He is considered the first Native American author to write American history from the Native American point of view.