Charles Alex Eastman
| Charles Eastman Ohíye S'a |
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Charles Eastman
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| Born | February 19, 1858 Near Redwood Falls, Minnesota, United States |
| Died | January 8, 1939 (aged 80) Detroit, Michigan, United States |
| Education | Dartmouth College, Boston University |
| Spouse(s) | Elaine Goodale Eastman |
Charles Alexander Eastman (born Hakadah and later named Ohíye S’a; February 19, 1858 – January 8, 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."
Eastman was of Santee Dakota, English and French ancestry. After working as a physician on reservations in South Dakota, he became increasingly active in politics and issues on Native American rights, he worked to improve the lives of youths, and founded thirty-two Native American chapters of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). He also helped found the Boy Scouts of America. He is considered the first Native American author to write American history from the Native American point of view.
Eastman was named Hakadah at his birth in Minnesota; his name meant "pitiful last" in Dakota. Eastman was so named because his mother died following his birth. He was the last of five children of Wakantakawin, a mixed-race woman also known as Winona (meaning "First-Born Daughter" in the Dakota language) or Mary Nancy Eastman. She and Eastman's father, a Santee Dakota named Wak-anhdi Ota (Many Lightnings), lived on a Santee Dakota reservation near Redwood Falls, Minnesota.
Winona was the only child of Seth Eastman, a U.S. Army officer and illustrator, and Wakháŋ Inážiŋ Wiŋ (Stands Sacred), who married at Fort Snelling in 1830. This post later developed as Minneapolis. Stands Sacred was the fifteen-year-old daughter of Cloud Man, a Santee Dakota chief of French and Mdewakanton descent. Seth Eastman was reassigned from Fort Snelling in 1832, soon after the birth of Winona. Winona was later called Wakantakawin.
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