Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman was a product of two worlds--the Indian and the White. A member of the Santee Sioux Tribe, he was respected and admired in both of these worlds for the work he did on behalf of American Indians, first as a young doctor caring for the sick on the Reservation, and later as a writer and speaker, showing the richness of native American culture to white Americans. He was the most famous American Indian of his time. As a very young child he was among the Sioux driven from their Minnesota homeland in 1863 into Canada. There he was raised by his grandmother and uncle. For most of his childhood the boy Ohiyesa thought he was an orphan, but when he was fifteen his father found him after a long search and brought him back to the United States. There he was baptized, given his new name, and started to school. Eighteen years later he graduated from Boston University with a degree in medicine. Eastman's first job was as a doctor to the people of the Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation, where he quickly became frustrated and angered at the callous, inhumane treatment his people received. The rest of his life was spent speaking on behalf of the American Indians, imploring Washington officials to respect treaty rights, writing and lecturing about Indian ways and trying to preserve their fast-disappearing culture. Although he lived during a time of terrible change for his people, Eastman also lived to see the resurgence of Indian rights in the 1930's. This book is one of a series of biographies of famous American Indians. It is written for grade 5 and up. (DS)