Black Elk Speaks

Black Elk comes back to see that hunger and disease ravaged his people. The treaty of 1889 left the Indians with even less land, the bison are gone, crops will not grow, the food that the white men promised to send is not forthcoming, and measles and whooping cough are taking lives. Black Elk himself is suffering: His father dies; his younger brother and sister have died while he was gone. He works in a store for the white men. He says that his power was dead while he was gone and he thought it was gone forever, but now that he is back, he continues to work as a healer. Rumors of a man among the Paiutes who would save the Indians and bring back the dead and the bison, circulates among the Indians. The Oglalas send three men to investigate, and they come back with the news that a man named Wovoka, whom the whites call Jack Wilson, is a Wanekia (a great spirit, "One Who Makes Live"). This Wanekia had a vision and says that the Indians might be saved if they perform a "ghost dance." Black Elk thinks that perhaps this man had the same vision he did and that he was meant to help him. Through the year, rumors grow about the redemption the Wanekia promises. Some believers claim to have seen their dead relatives. Black Elk is puzzled because this is not like his vision at all. The first ghost dance is held. Another is to be held at Wounded Knee Creek and Black Elk goes to see it. He sees a ceremony that is like his vision after all — a circle, with a flowering stick, and the faces of the dancers painted red. He feels sad that he has not been able to enact his own vision, but then becomes happy that perhaps the time has come to do so. He plans to dance with them.