Reviews for From the Deep Woods to Civilization: Chapters in the Autobiography of an Indian

The average rating for From the Deep Woods to Civilization: Chapters in the Autobiography of an Indian based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-06-22 00:00:00 Jerry Parent From the Deep Woods to Civilization is the account of Charles Alexander Eastman/Ohiyesa's journey through boarding school, Beloit and Dartmouth Colleges, his early years as a physician, and his career in public service. Spanning the 1870s through 1910s, the book is an important document of crucial decades in American Indian history. To those that value traditional Sioux culture, Deep Woods may be disturbing because Eastman repeatedly renounces his upbringing in favor of Euro-American culture. Notably, after being thrown off the property of a white man who remembers the Dakota Wars, Eastman finds another farmer who provides summer work. What would be a simple economic exchange to most people is elevated into something like a religious experience: "It was here and now that my eyes were opened intelligently to the greatness of Christian civilization, the ideal civilization, as it unfolded itself before my eyes. I saw it as the development of every natural resources; the broad brotherhood of mankind; the blending of all languages and the gathering of all races under one religious faith ... I renounced finally my bow and arrows for the spade and the pen; I took off my soft moccasins and put on the heavy and clumsy by durable shoes. Every day of my life I put into use every English word that I knew, and for the first time permitted myself to think and act as a white man" (pg. 58). In fact, reviewers have called Charles Eastman/Ohiyesa a "sellout" because of passages like this. However, I feel Eastman's choices may be contextualized by understanding the precarious position he and other Natives found themselves in when Deep Woods was written. As of 1916, American Indians were not considered citizens of the United States, nor did they have voting rights. Confined to reservations, often on land that was stripped of large game and unproductive for agriculture, many were impoverished and starving. Thus some Natives of Eastman's generation felt they had no choice but to learn English, obtain occupational skills, and the like. In fact, as Eastman explains in "My First School Days," obtaining an education was a means to combat the abuse his people suffered. English language, laws, and such were the "bows and arrows of the white man" and Natives needed to understand such weapons (pg. 16). Also, it is important to read Deep Woods to the end, in order to observe Eastman's growing awareness of what the Sioux suffered and his increasing disillusionment with American society. While his initial advice to chief American Horse regarding the tension between his people and the U.S. government is that Natives must be "patient" and loyal (pg. 96), he later learns of disease, insufficient food, and broken promises that caused their anger and despair (pg. 98-99). He also observes yellow journalists whose exaggerated and falsified stories set everyone on edge (pg. 102). By the time he becomes a reservation doctor, he blames much of the so-called "Indian uprising" (i.e., the Wounded Knee Massacre) on whites. He also collaborates with traditional healers in treating a sick child (pg. 122-123). By the final pages, Eastman comes to the conclusion that American Christians do not practice what they preach, and while he calls himself an American, he renounces the "commerce, nationalism, [and] material efficiency" which has become part and parcel of Western life (pgs. 193-194). A close reading of Deep Woods also reveals instances of pride in Dakota childrearing. For example, in the book's opening pages, Eastman subtly argues for value of Native parenting by pointing out how he was taught many values which whites believed could only be imparted by removing Native children to off-reservation boarding schools. From his relatives, he had learned "to be a man," the importance of public service, the "presence of the Spirit," as well as "patience," "self-control," and "silence." Given the prejudices of the time, these are very brave words. With all this in mind, Eastman's work should be required for anyone who wishes to understand the Sioux during the early 20th century. His books are also helpful for those who are generally interested in American History. On par with Booker T. Washington's Up from Slavery, Eastman's From the Deep Woods to Civilization encourages readers to consider the philosophical struggles, evolving tactics, and other concerns of people of color trying to decide what personal and racial progress looks like and the best way of achieving it.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-04-19 00:00:00 Katherine Banks The author's father was arrested, along with dozens of others, after the 1862 Indian revolt in Minnesota, and was presumed executed. The boy was raised by his grandmother and uncle among a band of Sioux that had fled across the Canada line. When he was a teenager, his father (who had been pardoned by Lincoln and converted to Christianity) unexpectedly returned for him and brought him to his Dakota homestead. He sent him to the white man's school to learn to read and write. Ohiyesa, who now went by the name Charles Eastman, wasn't at all sure about this radical change of life. His father, convinced that the time of the Indians was irrevocably passing, encouraged him to apply himself to studying the white man's knowledge and culture: When you see a new trail, or a footprint that you do not know, follow it to the point of knowing… The way of knowledge is like our old way of hunting. You begin with a mere trail - a footprint. If you follow that faithfully, it may lead you to a clearer trail - a track - a road. Later on there will be many tracks, crossing and diverging one from the other. Then you must be careful, for success lies in the choice of the right road. Eastman went on, eventually, to Dartmouth and became a doctor. He returned to Pine Ridge, married, and was present to tend the injured at Wounded Knee. He went on in later life to become a touring lecturer and an advocate for Native American rights and the reconciliation of Indian and white culture. As was inevitable, Eastman was criticized from both sides over the years. Whites accused him of smoothing over some of the less savory aspects of Sioux life (torture of enemies, ritual self-mutilation, eating of dogs, etc.). Native Americans accused him of selling out to white culture and religion, and of looking down his nose at his own people. As it usually proves to be, the truth was something more complex. For all the simplicity of Eastman's style, the subtleties of his own perspective and character come through in this book. He was a man who wanted to belong to both cultures equally, not to divorce himself from either. He wanted to hold each to its own highest standards. He saw the tracks confusedly crossing and re-crossing, like his father had warned, but believed in a point of convergence, though it always seemed to recede before him. I read the Lakeside Press edition which includes select chapters from Eastman's Indian Boyhood too. Since Deep Woods only picks up where Indian Boyhood leaves off, I recommend both.