Memories of an Indian Boyhood (Mint Editions

by Charles Alexander Eastman

Memories of an Indian Boyhood (1902) is a memoir by Charles Eastman. Recognized for his achievements as a pioneering Native American physician, Eastman was also a prolific writer whose personal stories, powerful meditations, and in-depth studies of indigenous culture continue to be read and appreciated today. In this memoir, his debut literary work, he recalls a youth marked by tragedy and perseverance that earned him the name Oh�ye S'a, Dakota for "always wins." "What boy would not be an Indian for a while when he thinks of the freest life in the world? This life was mine." Although his birth and youth were marked by tragedy--the death of his mother, his separation from his father and siblings during the Dakota War of 1862--Eastman was able to experience the joys of Dakota Sioux life with his maternal grandmother and her family. "Every day there was a real hunt. There was real game. Occasionally there was a medicine dance away off in the woods where no one could disturb us [...]" Immersed in the traditions of his people, Eastman--whose birthname was Hakadah--developed an identity grounded in the wisdom of his elders, yet open to the world outside. Nostalgic and full of gorgeous detail, Memories of an Indian Boyhood is a story of one boy's youth that resonates with all who read it. With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Charles Eastman's Memories of an Indian Boyhood is a classic work of Native American literature reimagined for modern readers.

133 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 23, 2021

About the author

Charles Alexander Eastman is unique among Indian writers, whether storytellers or oral historians. He was raised traditionally, as a Woodland Sioux, by his grandmother, from 1858 - 1874, until he was 15. He thus gained a thorough first-hand knowledge of the lifeways, language, culture, and oral history.

His father (thought to have been hanged at Mankato, Minnesota) reappeared and insisted he receive the white man's education. Educated at Dartmouth and Boston University medical school, Eastman became a highly literate physician, who was the only doctor available to the victims of the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890 -- a major historical event, often described as "ending the Indian wars".

Other Indian writers of this period were either entirely acculturated -- had never lived the traditional life of their people or been educated out of their native knowledge -- or were not literate, and were able to provide only "as told to" materials, through the filters of interpreters and non-Indian writers. Eastman had the lifeways and historical events experiences, and he did not need the literary filters of translators and white anthropologists or collectors.

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