1. By: Kyle Pudenz

2. Hakadah Charles Alexander Eastman’s birth name was “Hakadah”, the pitiful last, because he became the last of his three brothers and one sister when his mother died after his birth. Eastman’s father had adopted the English name of his wife’s father, Eastman, so the boy now named himself, Charles Alexander Eastman. Charles Alexander Eastman was born in Redwood Falls, Minnesota in the winter of 1858. His father was a full-blooded Sioux and his mother was the granddaughter of the Sioux Chief, “Cloud Man”.

3. College Eastman graduated from Dartmouth in 1887, and then studied medicine at Boston University, where he graduated in 1890 as orator of his class. Eastman spent a total of seventeen years in primary, preparatory, undergraduate college, and professional education.

4. Eastman’s first position was a Government Physician for the Sioux at the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota He cared for the wounded Indians after the massacre at Wounded Knee.

5. In 1893 Eastman and his wife and their newborn baby moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he started his medical practice. Eastman accepted a position as a field secretary for the International Committee of the YMCA and for three years Eastman traveled throughout the United States and Canada visiting many tribes trying to start up the YMCA in these area’s. YMCA

6. Eastman’s Writings Eastman’s first book was “Indian Boyhood”, which was published in 1902. It depicted a story of his early life in the wilderness of Canada. It was a enormous success and fans of Eastman wanted to read more of his books, which prompted Eastman to write more novels.

7. Eastman’s Writings Continued Eastman’s went on to write a total of eleven books: 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) Indian Heroes and Great Chieftains (1918)

8. Boy Scouts In 1910 Eastman associated himself the Boy Scouts The importance of Boy Scouts was to teach young children what it was like to be a Native American Indian.

9. Teaching Indian Life From 1915 – 1920 Eastman and his family created and operated a summer camp for girls at Granite Lake, New Hampshire. The purpose of this camp was to teach young women about Native American Life.

10. Later Years of Eastman’s Adult Life Charles Alexander Eastman was the foremost Indian spokesman of his day. Eastman was presented a special medal in 1933 at the Chicago World’s Fair honoring the most distinguished achievements by an American Indian.

11. Charles Alexander Eastman died in Detroit, Michigan on January 8, 1939 at the age of 80. For several years toward the end of his life, Eastman worked on a major study of the Sioux, but this project was never completed, due to his death.