Emmett
'His Many Lightnings' Eastman, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community
Vice Chairman Glynn Crooks and Daniel Eastman
Prior
Lake, MN - Four generations of Eastmans attending the Shakopee Pow-Wow
Saturday were able to see and hold a medal given to their ancestor,
Dr. Charles Alexander 'Ohiyesa' Eastman as it traveled across the
country. Dr. Eastman (class of 1890) was recently honored by Boston
University Medical School with a posthumous Humanitarian Award for
his efforts on behalf of Native Americans. Known as the most prominent
Anglo-Dakota of his time, Eastman was the attending physician at
the Wounded Knee Massacre and devoted much of his life to preserving
his beloved culture.
Native
elder Emmett 'His Many Lightnings' Eastman of North Dakota, producer
Syd Beane of Minneapolis, and business advisor Daniel G. Eastman
of Massachusetts, were among the 20 Eastman relatives who came together
from across the country. They gathered in the Pow-Wow arena with
Glynn Crooks, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Tribal Council Vice Chairman
to view the Humanitarian Award. Charles' brothers, David and John,
were grandfathers to Emmett Eastman and Syd Beane respectively.
Daniel is a descendant of yet another Eastman line.
For
Daniel and Emmett, this was the second time they have held the medal.
The first time was when they first met the direct descendants of
Charles Eastman. This past spring, Daniel located Dr. Eastman's
grandson, Robert Prentiss, inviting him to accept the Humanitarian
Award on behalf of his family at the BU Medical School Alumni banquet.
Emmett addressed 400 people and spoke poignantly about the influence
Charles Eastman has had on his life. Attendees lined up to thank
him for his simple thoughts of wisdom and spirituality, which he
credits largely to Dr. Eastman's example.
Prentiss,
like Daniel, is from Massachusetts, and requested that he carry
the award first to Minneapolis, where Charles' history began as
the grandson of famed artist and Fort Snelling Commander Seth Eastman.
And asked that he then deliver it to Flandreau, South Dakota where
Charles' family was relocated by the government and eventually settled.
Syd’s
brother, William Beane, Tribal Historian & Archivist received the
award in Flandreau where it will be displayed at the Moody County
Museum. Eastman family members are working together to have Charles
and his only son, Charles ‘Ohiyesa’ Eastman II, repatriated from
an unmarked grave at 8 Mile in Detroit, Michigan, to the Flandreau
Indian Presbeterian Church Cemetery where Dr. Eastman’s father Jacob
‘His Many Lightnings’ Eastman, his brother John and other family
members have been laid to rest.
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