Charles “Chuck” Trimble is an American Indian author, journalist, and advocate, and a national leader in Indian affairs. He wrote the Foreword to the Wisdom Tales edition of Indian Boyhood: The True Story of a Sioux Upbring. This is an illustrated and adapted version of Charles Eastman’s book, aimed at children.
Mr. Trimble’s writing is much respected for his ability to engage his readers with lively prose. Here is an example taken from his Foreword to Indian Boyhood:
“In [Eastman’s] earliest years, his world was transformed by the growing presence of immigrant peoples in Sioux Country, and by the inevitable conflict between the Native and the European cultures. In the so-called Indian Uprising of 1862 the Dakota people rebelled against white incursions onto their lands and the government’s withholding of treaty-guaranteed rations that left them starving. Ohiyesa’s extended family fled to Canada to escape the U.S. Army, which was hell-bent on brutal vengeance, and there in the isolation of northern wilderness he spent his youth, coming of age immersed in traditional Dakota lifeways.
“This story is told in Eastman’s first book, Indian Boyhood. Published in 1902, the book remains a classic in literature about Native America and a treasure for the preservation of a traditional culture that Indian people today strive to emulate and to restore in the modern world.”
Mr. Trimble is the author of the book Iveska (Dog Ear Publishing, 2012), a collection of his own memories of his childhood and life, as well as reflections on matters of interest to those who follow American Indian affairs.
Charles Trimble was born and reared on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He graduated from Holy Rosary Mission in 1952 and went on to become a national leader in Indian affairs, advocating for public policies to strengthen tribal self-determination and improve quality of life across Indian Country. In 1969 he was principal founder of the American Indian Press Association, and served as the organization’s Executive Director until 1972, when he was elected Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians. In 1975 he represented U.S. Indian tribes at the charter meeting of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples in Copenhagen, Denmark. He also served as a U.S. delegate at the U. N. Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1983.
Charles was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2013 and is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe. He is now retired and lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with his wife, Anne.
More on Charles “Chuck” Trimble:
There is an excellent, detailed biography on Charles Trimble, including portions of an interview and a number of photos, taken from an article in the Lakota Country Times. Click here to read more on his interesting life and achievements.