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''Black Elk Speaks'' is a 1932 book by John G. Neihardt, an American poet and writer, who relates the story of
Black Elk Heȟáka Sápa, commonly known as Black Elk (December 1, 1863 – August 19, 1950), was a ''wičháša wakȟáŋ'' (" medicine man, holy man") and '' heyoka'' of the Oglala Lakota people. He was a second cousin of the war leader Crazy Horse and ...
, an
Oglala Lakota The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota people, Dakota, make up the Sioux, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority ...
medicine man A medicine man or medicine woman is a traditional healer and spiritual leader who serves a community of Indigenous people of the Americas. Individual cultures have their own names, in their respective languages, for spiritual healers and ceremo ...
. Black Elk spoke in
Lakota Lakota may refer to: * Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: * Lakota, Iowa * Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County * La ...
and Black Elk's son, Ben Black Elk, who was present during the talks, translated his father's words into English. Neihardt made notes during these talks which he later used as the basis for his book. The prominent psychologist
Carl Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung's work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philo ...
read the book in the 1930s and urged its translation into German; in 1955, it was published as ''Ich rufe mein Volk'' (''I Call My People''). Reprinted in the US in 1961, with a 1988 edition named ''Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, as told through John G. Neihardt (Flaming Rainbow)'' and a
State University of New York Press The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...
2008 Premier Edition annotated by
Lakota Lakota may refer to: * Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: * Lakota, Iowa * Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County * La ...
scholar
Raymond DeMallie Raymond J. DeMallie (October 16, 1946 – April 25, 2021) was an American anthropologist whose work focuses on the cultural history of the peoples of the Northern Plains, particularly the Lakota. His work is informed by interrelated archival, mu ...
, the book has found an international audience. However, the book has come under fire for what critics describe as inaccurate representations of Lakota culture and beliefs.


Background

In the summer of 1930, as part of his research into the Native American perspective on the Ghost Dance movement, the poet and writer John G. Neihardt, already the Nebraska poet laureate, received the necessary permission from the
Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
to go to the Pine Ridge Reservation. Accompanied by his two daughters, he went to meet an
Oglala The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota, make up the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority of the Oglala live o ...
holy man named
Black Elk Heȟáka Sápa, commonly known as Black Elk (December 1, 1863 – August 19, 1950), was a ''wičháša wakȟáŋ'' (" medicine man, holy man") and '' heyoka'' of the Oglala Lakota people. He was a second cousin of the war leader Crazy Horse and ...
. His intention was to talk to someone who had participated in the Ghost Dance. For the most part, the reservations were not then open to visitors. At age 13, Black Elk had also been part of the
Battle of the Little Big Horn The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...
, and he survived the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. Neihardt recounts that Black Elk invited him back for interviews. Flying Hawk served as their translator. Neihardt writes that Black Elk told him of his
visions Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...
, including one in which he saw himself as a "sixth grandfather" - the spiritual representative of the earth and of mankind. Neihardt also states that Black Elk shared some of the Oglala rituals which he had performed as a healer, and that two men developed a close friendship. Neihardt's daughter, Hilda Neihardt, says Black Elk adopted her, her sister, and their father as relatives, giving each of them Lakota names.


Controversy

Though
Black Elk Heȟáka Sápa, commonly known as Black Elk (December 1, 1863 – August 19, 1950), was a ''wičháša wakȟáŋ'' (" medicine man, holy man") and '' heyoka'' of the Oglala Lakota people. He was a second cousin of the war leader Crazy Horse and ...
was Oglala
Lakota Lakota may refer to: * Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: * Lakota, Iowa * Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County * La ...
, the book was written by Neihardt, a non-Native. While the book is lauded by non-Native audiences, and has been inspirational to many
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars consi ...
groups, traditional Lakota people and Native American scholars do not consider the book to be representative of Lakota beliefs. They have disputed the accuracy of the account, which has elements of a collaborative autobiography, spiritual text, and other genres. The Indiana University professor
Raymond DeMallie Raymond J. DeMallie (October 16, 1946 – April 25, 2021) was an American anthropologist whose work focuses on the cultural history of the peoples of the Northern Plains, particularly the Lakota. His work is informed by interrelated archival, mu ...
, who has studied the Lakota by cultural and linguistic resources, published "The Sixth Grandfather" in 1985 including the original transcripts of the conversations with Black Elk, plus his own introduction, analysis and notes. He has questioned whether Neihardt's account is accurate and fully represents the views or words of Black Elk. The primary criticism made by DeMallie and similar scholars is that Neihardt, as the author and editor, may have exaggerated or altered some parts of the story to make it more accessible and marketable to the intended white audience of the 1930s, or because he did not fully understand the Lakota context. Late twentieth-century editions of the book by Nebraska University Press have addressed this issue by entitling the book as ''Black Elk Speaks, as told through John G. Neihardt (aka "Flaming Rainbow")''.


Ben Black Elk

After serving as translator for his father in 1931, and increasingly after his father's death in 1950, Ben Black Elk visited local schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation to tell the traditional stories of the Lakota history and culture.


Publication data

* ''Black Elk Speaks'', 1932, William Morrow & Company. ** 1961 University of Nebraska Press edition with a new preface by Neihardt. ** 1979 edition with an introduction by Vine Deloria, Jr. ** 1988 edition: ''Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, as told through John G. Neihardt (Flaming Rainbow)'', . ** 2000 edition with index: . * ''Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux, The Premier Edition'', 2008,
SUNY Press The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...
, Albany, NY, , with annotations by
Raymond DeMallie Raymond J. DeMallie (October 16, 1946 – April 25, 2021) was an American anthropologist whose work focuses on the cultural history of the peoples of the Northern Plains, particularly the Lakota. His work is informed by interrelated archival, mu ...
, author of ''The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk's Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt'' (1985). The premier edition by the State University of New York Press, under its Excelsior Editions, is the first annotated edition. It includes reproductions of the original illustrations by
Standing Bear Standing Bear (c. 1829–1908) (Ponca official orthography: Maⁿchú-Naⁿzhíⁿ/Macunajin;U.S. Indian Census Rolls, 1885 Ponca Indians of Dakota other spellings: Ma-chú-nu-zhe, Ma-chú-na-zhe or Mantcunanjin pronounced ) was a Ponca chief a ...
, with new commentary; new maps of the world of ''Black Elk Speaks''; and a revised index. * ''Black Elk Speaks: The Complete Edition'', 2014, University of Nebraska Press.


Adaptation

The book was adapted into a play by
Christopher Sergel Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει ...
, ''John G. Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks'', in the 1970s where it was staged by the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C. and then taken on a national tour in 1978, and later restaged in 1992 with a revised version.


See also

*
The red road The red road is a modern English-language concept of the right path of life, as inspired by some of the beliefs found in a variety of Native American spiritual teachings. The term is used primarily in the Pan-Indian and New Age communities,McGaa ...


Notes

{{Reflist, 35em


Further reading


Clyde Holler, editor. ''Black Elk Reader''
Syracuse University Press (2000). Criticism and analysis of issues related to Neihardt's version of Black Elk's story.


External links


The Premier Edition from SUNY Press

"John Gneisenau Neihardt"
''Dictionary of Literary Biography''

Voice of America News, 13 July 2005 1932 non-fiction books American autobiographies Non-fiction books about Native Americans Native American religion Religious autobiographies Works by John Neihardt Native American literature SUNY Press books