Black Elk Speaks

The bison herds disappeared by this time (fall, 1883). White men killed the bison to sell only the hides or the tongues, or just for sport. Black Elk thinks this is irrational; the Indians killed only what they needed and used every single bit of a bison. Indians settle into the square houses on reservations. The nation's hoop breaks and people are deeply depressed. Black Elk continues to practice healing, but he is sad at the fact that he cannot restore his nation's hoop and the flowering tree. In 1886, Black Elk hears that Buffalo Bill wants to hire Indians to use in his Wild West Show. Thinking that perhaps this is a way for him to learn some of the things the Wasichus (whites) know, Black Elk is one of about one hundred Indians who travel by train through Omaha and Chicago to New York and appear in Madison Square Garden throughout the winter. He does not discover any secret Wasichu knowledge; such features of white civilization as prisons and parks dismay Black Elk. In the spring, the show travels to London. The ocean crossing, especially a dangerous storm that comes up, upsets the Indians. Among the people who come to see the show in London is Queen Victoria, whom he calls Grandmother England. She is kind to the Indians, and they later come to her residence for a command performance. Black Elk likes her and says that if she had been their Grandmother (and replaced their Grandfather, the U.S. President), his people would have been treated better.