Black Elk

Religious Leader

• Born: December 1, 1863
• Birthplace: On the Little Powder River, Wyoming
• Died: August 17, 1950
• Place of death: Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota

Tribal affiliation: Lakota (Sioux)

Significance: Black Elk, one of the greatest of Lakota holy men, witnessed and described many of the most important events of nineteenth century Lakota history

At the time of Black Elk’s birth, the Lakota and other Indian peoples were already suffering from the encroachment into their territory by European Americans. In spite of the constant threat of conflict between the U.S. Army and the Indians, Black Elk lived in traditional Lakota fashion until he became a young adult. His was the last generation to live in that way.

When he was about five years old, Black Elk had a vision in which two men came down from the clouds, “headfirst like arrows slanting down.” There was thunder that sounded like drumming, and the two men sang a song, telling Black Elk, “A sacred voice is calling you.” Black Elk did not know what to make of his vision, and he was afraid to tell anyone what had happened. From that point on, however, he could hear and see things that no one else could perceive. He sometimes heard voices; he had the feeling that the voices wanted him to do something, but he did not know what.

When he was nine years old, Black Elk had a great vision that was to shape his life for many years. The vision was long and complex; it is described in detail in Black Elk Speaks (1961), by John Neihardt. In the vision, Black Elk was summoned by the six grandfathers: the powers of the four directions, of the sky, and of the earth. Black Elk was made to understand that he was being given abilities that would enable him to help the Lakota people in times of trouble. He still did not know what to do, however, and it was not until he was seventeen that he began to put what he had learned in his vision into practice.

Black Elk became a warrior by 1876, and he fought in the famous Battle of the Little Bighorn, which is called the Battle of the Greasy Grass by the Lakota, during which General George Armstrong Custer and all his troops were killed. Custer had moved, on June 25, 1876, to attack the camps of Crazy Horse (Black Elk’s second cousin) and his followers, but the Indians far outnumbered Custer’s troops, and they responded quickly and effectively to Custer’s attack. Black Elk’s account of the battle, as given by John Neihardt in Black Elk Speaks, is one of the most important descriptions of that famous event.

On September 5, 1877, Crazy Horse was arrested and taken to Fort Robinson, where he was murdered when he refused to enter a jail cell. With his death, serious resistance to the U.S. Army ended. It was clear that the traditional Lakota way of life was coming to an end, but Black Elk’s family stayed away from the Indian agencies that had been set up by the U.S. government and lived as they always had.

It was during this period that Black Elk told another holy man of his great vision and learned that the vision had to be performed as a dance by the Lakota people. A horse dance based on his vision was performed when Black Elk was about seventeen. Other visions and dances followed, and Black Elk began to work as a healer, using the understanding that had come to him in his visions.

In 1886, Black Elk joined the performing troupe organized by Buffalo Bill Cody. He traveled to England, France, and Germany, where he hoped to learn more about the ways of white people in order to help the Lakotas. Once, he performed for Queen Victoria of England, who impressed him as a good woman.

When he returned to South Dakota in 1889, Black Elk continued to work as a healer. He was frustrated, however, because he believed that he had not lived up to the requirements that his vision had made of him. He was convinced that he had been given the opportunity to save his people but that he had not been strong enough to do so.

On December 29, 1890, a band of 250 to 350 Indians led by the Minneconjou chief Big Foot was massacred by troops commanded by Colonel James W. Forsyth. Black Elk witnessed and fought in this one-sided engagement, which marked the end of the traditional way of life for the Lakota and the other tribes in the area, who from that point on lived as they were told to by the U.S. government.

In 1904, when Black Elk was attempting to heal a sick boy, he was interrupted by a Catholic priest, Father Lindebner, who had baptized the boy. Lindebner caught the healer by the neck and said, “Satan, get out!” The priest gave the boy Communion and prayed with him, after which he took Black Elk to the Holy Rosary Mission, where he gave him clothing and religious instruction. Black Elk stayed there for two weeks, and on December 6, 1904, he willingly accepted the Catholic faith.

For the next forty-five years, Black Elk was a devout Catholic. He did his best to convert other Lakotas and to encourage them to live virtuous lives, although he respected those who adhered to traditional Lakota belief. He was most disturbed by those people who had no belief of any kind. Until the end of his life, Black Elk served as a catechist, assisting the priests and teaching Catholicism.

Black Elk died on August 17, 1950, apparently of old age. He had told Joseph Epes Brown, “You will know when I am dying, because there will be a great display of some sort in the sky.” Indeed, after his wake, a spectacular phenomenon was observed in the night sky. The Jesuit brother William Siehr, who attended the wake, described it as follows: “There were different formations in the sky that night which, to me, looked like spires, like tremendous points going up—then flashes. And it seemed like they were almost like fireworks in between. It was something like when a flare goes off in the sky—some sparkle here and there, but spread over such a vast area. And it was not just momentary. We all seemed to wonder at the immensity of it.”

Bibliography

Brown, Joseph Epes, ed. The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1971.

DeMallie, Raymond. The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984.

Neihardt, John G. Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1961.

Powers, William K. Oglala Religion. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1975.

Steltenkamp, Michael F. Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993.