They Met at Wounded Knee: The Eastmans' Story

They Met at Wounded Knee: The Eastmans’ Story (University of Nevada Press, 2020) tells the story of US policy toward Indigenous American from the Civil War to World War II through the lives and writings of two prolific writers, Dakota physician and civil servant Charles Ohiyesa Eastman and his Anglo wife Elaine Goodale Eastman, a teacher, Dakota speaker. Each wrote eleven books and was an active advocate for the overhaul of US policy toward indigenous Americans. Charles (Ohiyesa) attended Mark Twain's 70th birthday party at DelMonicos in New York City along with the other great luminaries of that time. Elaine was celebrated as "the next Longfellow" when her first book of poetry was published. She was fourteen at the time! Their inter-ethnic marriage, was not uncommon in the West, but when they moved back East to Massachusetts, that was not the case. The impact of racism on their relationship was profound, but did not stop either of them from lifelong advocacy, writing, and whistleblowing. Theirs is a history of the US from the Civil War to World War II that provides much new insight to the history of this nation. This couple should be in every American's bank of historical figures