PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Author, biographer and Tufts University professor Julie Dobrow's new book, "Love and Loss After Wounded Knee: A Biography of an Extraordinary Interracial Marriage,: tells the story of the lives and marriage of Elaine Goodale and Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman. 

 

On June 3 at 5:30 pm, the Berkshire County Historical Society hosts Dubrow for a presentation about her book and the fascinating way in which she first discovered this story. 

 

Tickets are $5 for BCHS members, $10 for non-members and can be purchased by using the BOOK NOW button at berkshirehistory.org. This event is sponsored by Massachusetts Cultural Council and Housatonic Heritage.

 

According to a press release: 

 

As is the case for many star-crossed lovers, it was amazing that Elaine Goodale and Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohíye S'a), ever met in the first place. She was a white woman from Mount Washington, Massachusetts, who earned early fame as a childhood poet and was frequently mentioned as a “childhood poetic prodigy of the Berkshires.” Elaine travelled west in 1884 to teach Native American children. Charles was a Santee Dakota who had gone to Dartmouth College and the Boston University School of Medicine. Somehow, they both ended up at the Pine Ridge Agency in South Dakota in December of 1890 and fell in love at first sight. Three weeks later, they announced their engagement. Then the Wounded Knee Massacre changed everything.

 

Julie Dobrow is a writer, professor and researcher whose work focuses both on biography and history, and also on children and media. She teaches at Tufts University. Much of her writing and teaching focuses on telling untold and under-told stories and shining new light on them.