Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950 Part 1

[David White Hawk Administrator]

Black Elk




Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950 Part 1


Over a hundred years ago Black Elk had a vision of the time when Indian people would heal from the devastating effects of European migration. In his vision the Sacred Hoop which had been broken, would be mended in seven generations.
The children born into this decade will be the seventh generation.


Born: December 1863? - Little Powder River, Wyoming
Died: August 17, 1950


Born to a medicine man who followed Crazy Horse, Black Elk witnessed the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 and the upheaval that followed the tribe's flight to Canada to join Sitting Bull. In 1886 he joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. In 1889 he returned to the Pine Ridge Reservation, where, as a spiritual authority, he supported the Ghost Dance movement. The movement, built on the belief that ritual observances would cause the white people to leave and the buffalo to return, declined after it failed to protect its followers at the Battle of Wounded Knee.


In 1904 he was converted by a priest to the Catholic faith and took the name Nicholas Black Elk. As a member of the Society of St. Joseph, he helped sponsor the annual Catholic Sioux Congress and was active in converting others to Catholicism.


Black Elk


Black Elk with wife and daughter, circa 1890-1910
Born 1863
Little Powder River, Wyoming
Died 1950
Pine Ridge, South Dakota
Spouse(s) Katie War Bonnet (1892–1903)
Anna Brings White (1905–1941)
Ellen (?–1950)
Children: Benjamin (?–1973)
John
Lucy Looks Twice (?–1978)
He?áka Sápa (Black Elk) (c. December 1863 – August 17 or August 19, 1950)[1] was a famous Wicháša Wak?á? (Medicine Man or Holy Man) of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux). He was Heyoka and a second cousin of Crazy Horse.


Black Elk participated, at about the age of twelve, in the Battle of Little Big Horn of 1876, and was injured in the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.
In 1887, Black Elk traveled to England with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, an unpleasant experience he described in chapter 20 of Black Elk Speaks.


Black Elk married his first wife, Katie War Bonnett, in 1892. She became a Catholic, and all three of their children were baptized as Catholic. After her death in 1903, he too was baptized, taking the name Nicholas Black Elk and serving as a catechist. He continued to serve as a spiritual leader among his people, seeing no contradiction in embracing what he found valid in both his tribal traditions concerning Wakan Tanka and those of Christianity. He remarried in 1905 to Anna Brings White, a widow with two daughters. Together they had three more children and remained married until she died in 1941.


Towards the end of his life, he revealed the story of his life, and a number of sacred Sioux rituals to John Neihardt and Joseph Epes Brown for publication, and his accounts have won wide interest and acclaim. He also claimed to have had several visions in which he met the spirit that guided the universe.



BLACK ELK


"My friend, I am going to tell you the story of my life, as you wish; and if it were only the story of my life I think I would not tell it; for what is one man that he should make much of his winters, even when they bend him like a heavy snow? So many other men have lived and shall live that story, to be grass upon the hills.
- Black Elk


Black Elk was born into a tribe of the Plains Indians, the Oglala Sioux. He had five sisters and one brother. He had many children, but the one discussed in this essay is his daughter, Lucy Looks Twice. The Sioux were hunters, and they relied mainly on the buffalo. Buffalo was their main source for food as well as shelter and clothing. The Sioux lived throughout the midwestern plains of North America, until they were put on Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.


At the age of nine, Black Elk received a great vision. This vision portrayed the Powers of the World, each giving Black Elk a gift and a special power. The Grandfathers, represented the powers of north, south, east, and west. With the gifts that he received, Black Elk was given the center of the nations hoop. According to the book, Black Elk Speaks, by John Neihardt, the grandfathers said to Black Elk, "Behold a nation; it is yours." And a voice said, "Behold, they have given you the center of the nation's hoop to make it live."


Black Elk took part in many historical events, like the Battle of Little Big Horn. As an adult Black Elk became a medicine man and a prominent member of his tribe. Thirty years before his death, Black Elk became a Catholic. His religion was very important to him. In the book, Black Elk; Holy Man of the Oglala by Michael Steltenkamp, Lucy Looks twice recalls that her father had "suffered a lot," and had experienced inner confusion. Black Elk knew that something was wrong in his life because he suffered socially, physically, and psychologically. Black Elk soon had to visit the hospital due to ulcers. While there he received the holy sacrament, and never suffered from his ulcers again. This instance, and with the encouragement of his friend, Kills Brave, Black Elk converted to Catholicism. On December 6th, 1904 Black Elk was baptized on the feast of Saint Nicholas, and was given the christian name, Nicholas Black Elk.


These last years of Black Elk's life are very important, because he was a devout catholic. Knowing about Christ and receiving communion were what he held sacred. Black Elk spent many years of his life as a catechist. He often walked for miles to summon a priest to administer last rights. Lucy states that, "If anything ever went wrong with my children, if he prayed, I knew everything would be all right. He had a way, since he loved little children." Black Elk's religion was so strong that it had a drastic impact on many lives. Many of the people Black Elk used to care for as a medicine man came to him for advice, and many followed in his direction.


Chronology of Black Elk's Life


1863 (December) Born on the Little Powder River


1873 Had the Great Vision


1876 Battle at the Little Bighorn River


1882 Became a medicine man


1886-1889 Traveled to Europe


1890 Massacer at Wounded Knee


1931 Told Life Story to John Neihardt


1950 Died on Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota


Black Elk's Vision


[The following is taken from the book Black Elk Speaks, by John G. Neihardt (New York: Washington Square Press, 1972), originally published in 1932. The book is Neihardt's recreation in English of the oral history that Black Elk, a medicine man (or "shaman," of the Oglala Sioux Indians, recounted for him in the Sioux language in 1931. I have selected those chapters and sections of chapters that deal most directly with Black Elk's visions and this ritual enactment of them for his tribe.]