Love and Loss after Wounded Knee: A Biography of an Extraordinary Interracial Marriage, April 7
Events
Published March 17, 2026
April 7, 2026
4:30 p.m.
Neilson Browsing Room and Zoom
Register for Zoom here
Join author and professor Julie Dobrow '81 as she returns to campus to share her research into the remarkable lives of Elaine Goodale and Dr. Charles Eastman (Ohiyé Sá), each of whom became famous during their lifetime: Goodale as a published poet, journalist, and advocate for Native American children’s education, and Eastman as a medical doctor, writer, prolific public speaker, and activist for Native rights.
In Love and Loss After Wounded Knee: A Biography of an Extraordinary Interracial Marriage, Dobrow tells the complicated story of the Eastman’s lives and the ways in which Elaine and Charles’ relationship was emblematic of the seismic changes in gender, race and Indigenous identity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She first discovered their papers while a student at Smith, and she remained intrigued by their experiences until she was able to devote herself fully to producing this biography.
About the Author
Julie Dobrow is a professor at Tufts University, where she is also the director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies. She is co-principal founder and producer of the Half the History Project, a multi-modal project that uses short-form biography, film and podcast to tell the untold and under-told stories of women’s lives. She serves on the New England Biography committee at the Massachusetts Historical Society, and as president of the Boston Authors Club. Dobrow has published articles in a variety of popular and academic venues. Her previous biography, After Emily, told the intertwined stories of the mother/daughter team who first brought Emily Dickinson’s poems to publication.
This event is free and open to the public. Sponsored by the Friends of the Smith College Libraries.
Contact
Mary Irwin, Libraries Development Officer: mirwin@smith.edu