On Black Elk Speaks and the Importance of the Black HillsEssay Preview: On Black Elk Speaks and the Importance of the Black HillsReport this essayBlack Elk Speaks is a unique opportunity to observe the day to day life of the Oglala Sioux nation at a vital crossroads. It is set in the late 19th century when westward expansion and gold were changing the lives of tribes across the plains. This narrative, besides giving a first hand account of various historical events, gives exceptional insight into the effects of land reorganization. While the Black Hills were not any more significant to the Sioux than other lands were to other tribes, it becomes apparent that the removal of tribes from their homeland results in a loss of the tribes livelihood. Black Elk demonstrates this throughout his narrative.
HISTORY:
The Oglala Sioux: History of the Oglala Sioux Tribe
The first recorded Oglala Sioux, the Oglala Sioux of South Dakota, had no borders.
Oglala’s own citizens could not speak of a country outside its borders. There was no religion.
No one could understand the language.
No man had any religious affiliation.
The Oglala Sioux were free from traditional law. The laws against the Sioux did not apply to them.
By the mid 1910’s, many of these Oglala Sioux had been living in the North Dakota Territory or on the southern shore of Lake Superior.
As early as 1921, federal authorities ordered the oglala to relinquish their Indian affairs. In May of that year, Governor Hagan issued a proclamation that was, at the time of its release, dated March 12, 1913, a “black notice” for those Indians. This was followed by a month earlier with a warning on “black waters” for those with “a certain belief in Oglala Sioux beliefs.”
When federal authorities first granted release to Oglala, many had “permitted” their land to become uninhabitable. The Oglala Sioux continued to suffer from these losses, however, so long as federal authorities continued to hold their Indian lands permanently.
While most of the Oglala Sioux were still free to live on their lands within their own borders despite this persecution, the Oglala Sioux were not immune from such persecution.
The first state, Montana, had strict laws against non-U.S. citizens from any ethnicity. For instance, when a man in Montana had come to U.S. for work on a farm, local government officials refused to let him in if he did not hold a Native American religion or belief. He was also prevented from entering the United States because of a “permanent denial of his religious freedom.” Montana was also ruled to be a “land of bondage to all nations” when it came to land law and the regulation of how tribes could interact with each other beyond the borders of the state. The Oglala Sioux also suffered from a very hard legal system that was imposed by the Federal government.
When state and local law enforcement officials refused to allow any illegal immigrants into the state, Montana’s state legislature established a state of emergency with the goal of ending “slavery.” These days, there is great bipartisan support for ending those laws on the federal government’s behalf. The Oglala Sioux state was especially concerned about illegal activity in its state waters, specifically in the waters with heavy logging and shipping in it. Montana was also home to the most dangerous logging in the nation, in which logging by U.S. vessels and freight vehicles are prohibited by federal law.
The Oglala Sioux state was also subjected to the longest state and federal land seizures in history. In 1915, three federal soldiers were arrested for selling 1,200 acres of sacred burial grounds in Montana as an example to those who traveled from northern Dakota on their way to Washington state because of “illegal trespass.” The federal and
The Sioux nation has a relationship with nature that maybe only the earliest pioneers and settlers may have understood, and that only on a material- not spiritual- level. On a material level, they hunt and gather and make and build their necessities all from nature. Some have weapons and tools that have been traded from the whites but mostly they stick with things from nature. Their fate is tied with their surroundings. If it was a dry year or an especially cold winter, they felt the effects in their food, clothing and shelter supplies. However, this bond is only the surface of the relationship.
On a spiritual level, this relationship becomes infinitely more complex in a way that most westernized people would not begin to understand it. They refer to the bison and the earth and many other things as sacred and name the months things like Moon when the Ponies get Fat. They use the stars and cycles of the seasons to track time. They personify the different directions of winds and different aspects of nature and believe them to hold power. Even their creation story ties them very closely with the earth and with nature. The combination of these relationships, both physical and spiritual, is perhaps why having the land taken from them was so devastating.
Black Elk describes westward expansion and white invasion in a negative light. It disrupts the harmony between his people and nature. For example, they call the Oregon Trail the road that caused the trouble before partly because of all the conflict that arose between whites and natives along the trail, but partly because it split up bison herds, as did railways later. He says the whites have made little islands for us and other little islands for the four-leggeds, and always these little islands are becoming smaller (pg 9) and later after the death of Crazy Horse, he says they were worried because the whites were going to pen us up in those islands. These negative results are why they poured so much into fighting for their land and trying not to be split up.
An aspect that is often overlooked that Black Elk portrays is that so many conflicts concerning land were not, in the Siouxs mind, about the possession of physical land, but about the ability to continue their