Dr. Charles A. Eastman, or Ohiyesa (pronounced oh-hee-yay-suh), was a writer, speaker, medical doctor, and member of the Eastern Dakota. Born in 1858 in Minnesota, he survived the US-Dakota War and the persecution that followed. His father, Many Lightnings, was presumed killed in the war, but years later Ohiyesa was reunited with him. Many Lightnings had adopted Christianity and the name ?Jacob Eastman.?

Encouraged to pursue a Western education, Charles earned a medical degree?becoming one of the first Indigenous Western-trained doctors. He served on reservations, including Pine Ridge, where he treated victims of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre.

Charles wrote more than a dozen books, starting with Indian Boyhood (1902), blending vivid nature writing with reflections on Indigenous life. As is clear from his works, he effectively lived in two worlds. His writing is a look back to a time when the memory of the US-Dakota War was raw and its aftermath obvious, yet his text is also remarkably modern and bracingly honest.