Black Elk Speaks

“Up on the Madison Fork the Wasichus had found much of the yellow metal that they worship and that makes them crazy; and they wanted to have a road up through our country to the place where the yellow metal was; but my people did not want the road.” 

A lust for gold drives the Wasichus (or white men) into the Lakota territory. The passage underscores the difference between the Wasichu and the Lakota: Though the Lakota are aware of the gold in the mountains, they see no use for it, and thus don’t wish to allow the Wasichu to begin mining it.

“The soldiers did go away and their towns were tore down; and in the Moon of Falling Leaves (November), they made a treaty with Red Cloud that said our country would be ours as long as grass should grow and water flow. You can see that it is not the grass and the water that have forgotten.” 

Following the so-called Battle of the Hundred Slain, in which the Lakota killed numerous Wasichus soldiers, a treaty is signed promising that the Lakota will retain right over their land “as long as grass should grow,” or, for all of time. Black Elk points out that the grass continues to grow in their land, underscoring that the Wasichus have reneged on their promise to the Lakota.

“Then when the people were getting ready to begin the fourth ascent, the Voice spoke like some one weeping, and it said: ‘Look there upon your nation.’ And when I looked down, the people were all changed back to human, and they were thin, their faces sharp, for they were starving. Their ponies were only hide and bones, and the holy tree was gone.” 

A key image of Black Elk’s vision is of his nation traveling up four different ascents, which Black Elk interprets as representing four generations of his people. At the third generation, Black Elk’s people begin suffering greatly, and the Lakota sacred tree disappears. Black Elk believes that his vision is telling him that he must play an important part in healing and resurrecting the power of his people.

“I know now what this meant, that the bison were the gift of a good spirit and were our strength, but we should lose them, and from the same good spirit we must find another strength.” 

During Black Elk’s great vision, he sees a red sacred man become a bison, and then a multicolored herb blossom where the bison sat. Black Elk interprets the vision to reflect the crucial role the bison play in the livelihood of the Lakota people. 

“[A]s I lay there thinking about the wonderful place where I had been and all that I had seen, I was very sad; for it seemed to me that everybody ought to know about it, but I was afraid to tell, because I knew that nobody would believe me, little as I was, for I was only nine years old.” 

Though Black Elk feels he has been given an important vision pertaining to the livelihood of his people, he is deeply afraid of telling anyone about his vision, even his closest family. As a result of this fear, Black Elk keeps the vision a secret for many years, refusing to act upon it. 

“I was ten years old that winter, and that was the first time I ever saw a Wasichu. At first I thought they all looked sick, and I was afraid they might just begin to fight us any time, but I got used to them.” 

As a child, Black Elk hears numerous rumors about the Wasichu, and learns to be fearful of them. However, it is not until Black Elk is older, and his people camp at the Soldier’s Town, that Black Elk ever actually encounters a Wasichu. Though Black Elk is first frightened by their appearance, he eventually learns to accept it and live alongside them. 

“Red Cloud’s people said that the soldiers had gone in there to keep the diggers out, but we, who were only visiting, did not believe it. We called Red Cloud’s people ‘Hangs-Around-The-Fort,” and our people said they were standing up for the Wasichus, and if we did not do something we should lose the Black Hills.” 

Though many of the Lakota do not trust the Wasichu, some Lakota, led by Red Cloud, settle near the Soldier’s Camp, and seek to work with the Wasichu. This leads to a divide amongst the Lakota, with Black Elk’s people fearing that Red Cloud will give the Black Hills to the Wasichu. 

“We were in our own country all the time and we only wanted to be let alone. The soldiers came there to kill us, and many got rubbed out. It was our country and we did not want to have trouble.” 

Black Elk feels that the Lakota violence against the Wasichus is justified, as they are only trying to protect land that is rightfully theirs and that the Wasichus are illegally trying to seize. Black Elk emphasizes that the Wasichus are the aggressors, refusing to follow previously signed treaties. 

“The Wasichus went to some of the chiefs alone and got them to put their marks on the treaty. Maybe some of them did this when they were crazy from drinking the minne wakan (holy water, whiskey) the Wasichus gave them. I have heard this; I do not know. But only crazy or very foolish men would sell their Mother Earth.” 

The Wasichus individually pursue each of the separate Lakota band chiefs to convince them to sign a treaty selling the Black Hills territory to the Wasichus. Black Elk is unable to believe that any sane Lakota would sign over the rights to their ancestral land, and he suspects that the Wasichu only acquired the signatures after getting the chiefs drunk on whiskey.

“I could not understand this, and I thought much about it. How could men get fat by being bad, and starve by being good? I thought and thought about my vision, and it made me very sad; for I wondered if maybe it was only a queer dream after all.”

The starving Ogalala band is approached by Chief Spotted Tail, who has allied with the Wasichu and hopes to convince Crazy Horse to surrender. In contrast to the Ogalala, Spotted Tail is fat and healthy from feasting on “Wasichu food” (105). Black Elk is shocked that the universe could allow an individual who betrays his people good health, while those who are fighting for their land are left to starve. 

“But Crazy Horse might be lying over there just a little way from us right now on Pepper Creek across that hill yonder. I do not know. It does not matter where his body lies, for it is grass; but where his spirit is, it will be good to be.” 

After the murder of Crazy Horse, the Wasichu bury his body in a location kept secret from the Lakota. However, Black Elk is unbothered by the unknown location, as he believes the spirit to be more important than the body.  

“I could understand the birds when they sang, and they were always saying: ‘It is time! It is time!’ The crows in the day and the coyotes at night all called and called to me: ‘It is time! It is time! It is time!’ Time to do what? I did not know.” 

As a teenager, Black Elk begins to be approached by animals and thunder clouds, who tell him that the time has come to act upon the great vision he had as a child. Though Black Elk longs to fulfill his duty to his people, he is unsure what exactly the Grandfathers he saw in his vision hope for him to do. As a result, Black Elk develops an immense fear that overtakes his entire life. 

“In the old days when we were a strong and happy people, all our power came to us from the sacred hoop of the nation, and so long as the hoop was unbroken, the people flourished […] This knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion. Everything the Power of the World does is done in a circle.” 

The Lakota people structure everything about their lives in a circular form: Their homes (teepees) are round, and society is centered around the nation’s sacred hoop. Because Lakota believe that the circle governs everything about the natural world, they base their lives around circles to live in accordance with nature. 

“But the Wasichus have put us in these square boxes. Our power is gone and we are dying, for the power is not in us anymore.” 

As part of their attack on the Lakota, the Wasichu force them to abandon living in teepees and instead reside in Wasichu-style rectangular houses. The Lakota experience such a move as especially violent, as they feel that the circle provides them with power and ensures their good health. 

“Of course it was not I who cured. It was the power from the outer world, and the visions and ceremonies had only made me like a hole through which the power could come to the two-leggeds. If I thought that I was doing it myself, the hole would close up and no power could come through.” 

Though Black Elk can heal sick individuals after his great vision, he believes that he does not contain the power within himself. Rather, Black Elk presents himself as a sort of vessel that can channel powers from the spirit world to help his fellow “two-leggeds” (157).

“The Wasichus did not kill [the bison] to eat; they killed them for the metal that makes them crazy, and they took only the hides to sell […] Sometimes they did not even take the tongues; they just killed and killed because they liked to do that.” 

As the Wasichu overtake the Black Hills, they greatly decimate the herds of bison that had previously been plentiful in the Lakota land. Black Elk sees this act as senseless, believing that greed drives the Wasichus “crazy” and causes drives them to commit environmental devastation (164). 

“Maybe if I could see the great world of the Wasichu, I could understand how to bring the sacred hoop together and make the tree to bloom again at the center of it.” 

At the age of 23, Black Elk decides to partake in a traveling Native American show that will bring him to numerous Wasichu cities, including New York, London, and Paris. Though Black Elk has been extremely critical of Wasichu customs, he is curious to see and learn what their society is like, in hopes that he might learn a “secret” that Black Elk can use to assist his people (165). 

“I could see that the Wasichus did not care for each other the way our people did before the nation’s hoop was broken. They would take everything from each other if they could, and so there were some who had more of everything than they could use, while crowds of people had nothing at all and maybe were starving.” 

Black Elk is struck by the vast social inequality that exists in the city of New York, which contrasts starkly with the more egalitarian social structure of Lakota tribes. To Black Elk, the Wasichus seem driven by a rampant individualism that sees no problem with taking for oneself at the expense of other’s suffering. 

“All the time I was away from the home across the big water, my power was gone, and I was like a dead man moving around most of the time. I could hardly remember my vision, and when I did remember, it seemed like a dim dream.” 

For Black Elk, his sense of spiritual power stems from being in close contact with his tribe and culture. Black Elk emphasizes the importance of kinship amongst the Lakota people, who see community as being a provider of vitality and health. 

“[Another world] would come in a whirlwind out of the west and would crush everything on this world, which was old and dying. In that other world there was plenty of meat, just like old times; and in that world all the dead Indians were alive, and all the bison that had ever been killed were roaming around again.” 

Rumors spread throughout Native American tribes of a man who claims to be the Wanekia, or “son of the Great Spirit” (179). The Wanekia predicts that a new world will arrive and save the Native American tribes from their suffering, transporting them to a fertile land without Wasichus. The hopeful vision rapidly spreads amongst Native American tribes, who are taken in by the promise of resurrection after experiencing so much loss. 

“There came to us Fire Thunder, Red Wound and Young American Horse with a message from the soldiers that this matter of the ghost dance must be looked into, and that there should be rulings over it; and that they did not mean to take the dance away from us. But could we believe anything the Wasichus ever said to us?” “There came to us Fire Thunder, Red Wound and Young American Horse with a message from the soldiers that this matter of the ghost dance must be looked into, and that there should be rulings over it; and that they did not mean to take the dance away from us. But could we believe anything the Wasichus ever said to us?” 

As the ghost dance movement spreads throughout Native American tribes, Wasichus grow frightened of the spiritual ceremony, believing that it may stir the Native Americans to rebellion. As the Wasichus believe that Native Americans must abandon their customs, they issue a ruling seeking to greatly curb the ghost dances, allowing Native Americans to only perform the dances three days out of a month. 

“But I did not feel [doubt about the Wanekia religion] any more. After what I had seen over there, I wanted revenge; I wanted to kill.” 

Black Elk’s demeanor becomes greatly altered after seeing the massacre of Native Americans at Wounded Knee. Witnessing the tremendous violence committed by the Wasichu soldiers so angers Black Elk that he becomes single-minded in his desire for revenge. 

“And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream.” 

Though Black Elk and many other Lakota desire revenge on the Wasichu, Chief Red Cloud convinces them that more fighting is futile, and that they should surrender and return to the Pine Ridge Reservation. Black Elk sees the surrender as representing the final moment when the “dream” of the Lakota dies, and they relinquish their hope of reclaiming the Black Hills from the Wasichu.