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Black Elk was a holy man of the Oglala Lakota. He was a visionary who believed that dreams were wiser than waking thoughts. In "Black Elk Speaks", he recounts his visions, and also his experiences: "Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being."He was 13 years old in 1876, and fought in the Battle of the Rosebud and in the Battle of Little Big Horn. He traveled to London and met Queen Victoria in 1887. He also tells of his coming upon the aftermath of the massacre at Wounded Knee of 200-300 Miniconjous Sioux on Dec. 29, 1890 by the US military, after they had sought refuge with the Oglala on the Pine Ridge Reservation: "The sun was shining. But after the soldiers marched away from their dirty work, a heavy snow began to fall. The wind came up in the night. There was a big blizzard, and it grew very cold. The snow drifted deep in the crooked gulch, and it was one long grave of butchered women and children and babies, who had never done any harm and were only trying to run away."The Sioux, who call themselves Dakota or Lakota, are the largest tribe in the United States with 25,000 members. At one time, the Sioux owned nearly all of both Dakotas and about one-half of Minnesota. They now live on reservations within their ancient territory.Their language was reduced to writing in the 1840's and has now a considerable literature. Nearly all the men of the tribe are able to conduct personal correspondence in their own language. They have a special fondness for parade, and eagle-feather war-bonnets are numerous in this delegation.The habits of buffalo were especially important to the Lakota's lifeway. The migratory movement of the buffalo from spring to winter was mirrored by the Lakota on earth, and by spirit beings in the heavens. This reciprocal connection greatly influenced their seasonal camp life. The knowledge and awareness of the movements of the sun and stars, the passing of new moons or months, led the Lakota through their cycles, culminating with their primary annual event, the Sun Dance, when the populations of the buffalo herds had reached their peak.
Leonard Peltier ~ Americas Mandela
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Books:
Black Elk Speaks: being the life story of a holy man of the Oglala Sioux (1932) ( as told to John Neihardt.)
The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux (1953) (as told to Joseph Epes Brown)
The Sixth Grandfather: Black's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt (1984)
Hilda Neihardt, "Black Elk and Flaming Rainbow" (University of Nebraska Press, 1995)
Books about Black Elk, emphasizing his Catholicism:
Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala, Michael Steltenkamp
Black Elk: Colonialism and Lakota Catholicism, Damian Costello
Heroes:
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