Elaine Goodale Eastman "The Cross and the Pagan"

Elaine Goodale Eastman played an integral role in the education of Native American youth.  She began teaching at a boarding school for Native Americans, but then moved to a Sioux reservation in order to teach where her students came from.  Knowing this, one can look at her poem "The Cross and the Pagan" as a testament to the Native American way of life.  

In the poem, Eastman talks about the missionaries and their attempts to "save" the Native American people.  The Native Americans were not pagan people as these missionaries assumed, rather they worshipped God through nature and the gifts He had given them.  Although they did not know the words of the Bible and were not practicing a Christian faith, they knew that a higher power was responsible for them and the world they lived in.  

 

Towards the end of the poem, Eastman likens the bloodshed suffered by the Native Americans to the blood Christ shed on the cross.  She writes, "Your sad, sweet Christ--we called him Lord;/He promised us peace, but he brought a sword;/In shame and sorrow, in pain and loss,/We have drunk his cup; we have borne his Cross!"  With these lines, Eastman is bringing to light the brutality suffered by the Native Americans.  They were a peaceful and faithful people, and the disruption of their daily lives was completely unwarranted.  After reading this poem, it is easy to see Eastman's passion for the plight of the Native Americans and her rejection of the idea that they are "pagans".