The Indian To-day is Charles A. Eastman’s account of Native American life, history, and prospects, written by a Santee Dakota author, physician, and reformer. Eastman surveys the achievements of Native peoples, the injustices of conquest and broken treaties, and the contributions of individual Indians to American life, arguing for dignity, citizenship, and a fair place in the modern nation.
Writing from within the culture he describes, Eastman offers a perspective rare in the anthropology of his era, blending memoir, advocacy, and ethnographic observation. The book is both a historical document of early-twentieth-century Indian policy debates and an eloquent assertion of Native humanity and capability. It remains valuable for the study of American ethnology and indigenous self-representation.