Sister to the Sioux: The Memoirs of Elaine Goodale Eastman, 1885-91
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Book Overview
"It was held a distinct adventure back in the demure 1880s for a properly brought-up New England girl to open a day school in a primitive Sioux village," Elaine Goodale Eastman recalled in later years. With boundless energy and dedication she had set out to teach the white man's ways to the Sioux. The Indian women called her "little sister" as she entered wholeheartedly into village activities. She watched the emergence of the Ghost Dance religion, visited with Sitting Bull shortly before his death, and was at Pine Ridge during the last month of 1890--"a time of grim suspense." There she met her future husband, Dr. Charles Eastman, the agency physician and a mixed-blood Sioux. A short time later they shared in the heart-wrenching job of caring for the survivors of the Wounded Knee massacre.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0803267134
ISBN13:9780803267138
Release Date:January 1985
Publisher:University of Nebraska Press
Length:183 Pages
Weight:0.50 lbs.
Dimensions:0.5" x 5.3" x 8.0"
Customer Reviews
1 rating
A Woman Before Her Time
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 23 years ago
Mrs. Eastman should be considered a pioneer in more ways than one. She was one of the first educators to teach in the Dakota territory. Mrs. Eastman advocated day schools which allowed the native children to remain with their families (a concept which was strongly discouraged by the church boarding schools of the time), she took the time to learn the D/Lakota language and conversed in it, and she lived within the community (as opposed setting herself against it). Mrs. Eastman worked many years while she was a single person (which was quite unusual). She also reported with accuracy what was really occuring on the reservations (often upsetting those in charge-including government and church officials). Among many things within this book, one can learn about: what works and does not work when teaching individuals whose first language is not English, the Native Americans of the Dakotas, a Feminist before her time, and the account of The Wounded Knee Massacre from someone who tended the few left alive.
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