From the Deep Woods to Civilization: Chapters in the Autobiography of an Indian

Description

A sequel to the autobiographical memoirs, Indian Boyhood, Charles Alexander or Ohiyesa narrates his historical account to what it is like living a life as an Indian than as a Caucasian. His father changed his beliefs and converted to Christianity, he wanted his son to do the same, and to finish his studies in the white school. Ohiyesa successfully granted more than what his father had ever wished for.

Charles Alexander Eastman was born as Hakadah and later renamed as Ohíye S’a was a Santee Dakota medical doctor, writer, national lecturer, and reformer. He was described to be “one of the most prolific authors and speakers on Sioux ethnohistory and American Indian affairs.” He finished his studies at Boston University.

Charles Alexander was of Santee Dakota, English and French lineage. When he stopped working as a medical practitioner on reservations in South Dakota, he was politically active in all its matters and issues such as the Native American rights, as well as working to better the youths’ existences, and established 32 Native American chapters of the Young Men’s Christian Association or the most famous YMCA. He also helped create the Boy Scouts of America. He is noted as the first Native American author to write History of the United States from the Native American own insight.

He was originally called Hakadah at his birth in Minnesota. His name is translated as pitiful last in Dakota. He was named as such for his mother passed out after giving birth to him. He was the youngest of his five siblings. His mother was of Wakantakawin, a mixed-race woman also called as Winona which means First-Born Daughter in the Dakota dialect or Mary Nancy Eastman. His mother and father, a Santee Dakota Wak-anhdi Ota or Many Lightnings, settled on a Santee Dakota sanctuary not far in Redwood Falls, Minnesota.
[amz_corss_sell asin=”177672223X”]