author
Elaine Goodale Eastman
1863–1953
A child poetry prodigy who grew into a writer, teacher, and reformer, she spent much of her life trying to bridge cultures in the American West. Her work reflects both literary ambition and a complicated, deeply personal engagement with Native American education and public life.
3 Audiobooks
Wigwam Evenings: Sioux Folk Tales Retold
by Charles A. Eastman, Elaine Goodale Eastman
Indian Legends Retold
by Elaine Goodale Eastman
Yellow Star: A Story of East and West
by Elaine Goodale Eastman
About the author
Born in Massachusetts in 1863, she first became known as a poet while still very young, publishing with her sister Dora as one of the celebrated "Goodale Sisters." Over time, her career widened far beyond early verse: she wrote poetry, fiction, journalism, and memoir, and became active in education and reform.
In the 1880s and 1890s, she worked in Native American education, including service connected to Sioux communities and schools in the Dakotas. After the Wounded Knee era, she married Charles Eastman, the Dakota physician and author, and she later wrote about Native American life both on her own and in collaboration with him.
Her life and writing remain interesting in part because they sit at the crossroads of literature, activism, and American history. She died in 1953, leaving behind work that helps readers see both the ideals and the contradictions of her time.