Of Wooden Bowls and Wooden Spoons; Language and Religion:
Charles Eastman and his Encounter with the Meskwaki Nation
As recounted by Tribal Elder and U.S. Navy Veteran, Don Wanatee, Eastman came to Iowa at the end of the 19th century to advocate on behalf of the Boy Scout movement and to meet with area church groups. Also an advocate of education, Eastman came to Toledo specifically to talk to the Meskwaki about the importance of keeping Meskwaki children in the Sac and Fox Training School, which was part of a system of training schools for Indian children set up by the US Department of Interior throughout the Great Lakes Region. According to Wanatee, and as referenced repeatedly in Eastman's writings, Eastman stressed education as a necessary means for entering the "civilized" world. Eastman wrote that his college education had "overlaid and superseded" teachings of his youth.
Invited to what they first were told would be a feed and group gathering, the Meskwaki assembled to hear an hour-long presentation by Eastman that first took up the importance of education and then addressed the importance of Christianity. According to Wanatee, Eastman "was in the missionary business... he wanted to make sure his religious message was put forth." By his own account, Eastman wrote of the encounter: "My effort was to make the Indian feel that Christianity is not at fault for the white man's sins, but rather the lack of it, and I freely admitted that this nation is not Christian, but declared that the Christians in it are trying to make it so. ... I do not know how much good I accomplished, but I did my best." | |
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