Black Elk Speaks

The life story of Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota holy man, as told in 1931 to the Nebraska poet John G. Neihardt through Black Elk's son Ben as interpreter, and published in 1932. Black Elk recalls his childhood, and at its centre is the great vision he received at about nine years old, in which he was taken before the Six Grandfathers, the powers of the world, and shown the sacred hoop of his people and a flowering tree at its centre. The narrative follows the wars of the 1870s, including the Battle of the Little Bighorn and the killing of Crazy Horse, his years with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show in Europe, the Ghost Dance and the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890, which he sees as the breaking of the nation's hoop. Scholars note that Neihardt shaped the text and left out Black Elk's later life as a Catholic catechist; the original interview transcripts were published by Raymond DeMallie as The Sixth Grandfather.

It is the best-known account of Lakota spiritual vision and of the end of the free Plains nations, and a moving reflection on vision, loss and responsibility.