Charles Eastman
Charles Eastman
Charles Alexander Eastmanwas 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."...
NationalitySioux
ProfessionScreenwriter
Date of Birth18 September 1929
morals position purity standard women
It has been said that the position of woman is the test of civilization, and that of our women was secure. In them was vested our standard of morals and the purity of our blood.
divided man mind quotes
The red man divided mind into two parts, - the spiritual mind and the physical mind.
man
The Indian was a religious man from his mother's womb.
family unit
The family was not only the social unit, but also the unit of government.
acquainted deny home
No one who is at all acquainted with the Indian in his home can deny that we are a polite people.
age eight turns
At the age of about eight years, if he is a boy, she turns him over to his father for more Spartan training.
among ceremony hand itself marriage mysterious regarded relation religious
There was no religious ceremony connected with marriage among us, while on the other hand the relation between man and woman was regarded as in itself mysterious and holy.
apart sees setting seven since
He sees no need for setting apart one day in seven as a holy day, since to him all days are God's.
deed either given indian names nicknames playful religious symbolic
Indian names were either characteristic nicknames given in a playful spirit, deed names, birth names, or such as have a religious and symbolic meaning.
mark true
But to have a friend, and to be true under any and all trials, is the mark of a man!
credible deny either hero indian logical man miracles myths quite quotes stories
The logical man must either deny all miracles or none, and our American Indian myths and hero stories are perhaps, in themselves, quite as credible as those of the Hebrews of old.
temples
There were no temples or shrines among us save those of nature.
found men professed religion seeking spoke white
More than this, even in those white men who professed religion we found much inconsistency of conduct. They spoke much of spiritual things, while seeking only the material.
chief clan larger natural several union voluntary
The clan is nothing more than a larger family, with its patriarchal chief as the natural head, and the union of several clans by intermarriage and voluntary connection constitutes the tribe.