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Essay on ghost dance by christopher bruce
Ghost dances
Ghost dance intention
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The Ghost Dance began in 1888 with a with a holy man called Wovoka who received a
message during a solar eclipse that a messiah would come and the world will be free of white
man. The Indians could then return to their lands and Wovoka new that all this would happen
during the spring of 1891. He and his followers meditated and had visions and then chanted and
performed which became as the known “Ghost Dance.”
The ghost dance soon began to spread all throughout the rest of the south and west which
became a movement that many Indians started to follow and everyone performed it. The dance
was said to bring back their ancient ancestors, the buffalo, and that it would get rid of all te white
people in the world. Although Wovoka preached nonviolence, whites feared that the movement
would start a great Indian rebellion. The Ghost Dance followers seemed more rebellious than
other native Americans and the rituals seemed to work its participants in to a frenzy.
As the ghost dance kept spreading throughout the land, tragedy struck when the ghost
dance movement reached the Lakota Sioux. Local residents of south Dakota demanded that the
Sioux end the ritual of the ghost dance. When the Indians ignored their command, the residents
contacted the United States army and they were called in for assistance. Some of the Indians
were afraid that a fight might break out so about 300 Sioux left the reservation.
He army had heard about the stories of torture endured by the dancers and were sickened
by it, but they were not fearful against it. On the other hand the residents were afraid of the
dance. They didn’t like how the dance would get rid of all the whites and how the dance would
bring the Indians so much power. W...
... middle of paper ...
... and that they will no longer be interfering with each other.
So overall the Indians had made up a dance trying to make their lives better and easier
and wanting to get rid of the white who have been terrorizing them and wanting to bring back
their ancestors and the buffalo. They also made clothing that was said to stop the bullets fired
from the whites weapons and they will not penetrate the Indians bodies. But the whites kept
coming and disturbing their way of life and complaining about them so the later the ghost dance
was said to be ineffective and faded away from their culture. But then later Wovoka’s son
brought it back and the ghost dance was brought back. Because it came back residents started
complaining about it again and the US army got involved. A fight broke out and all the Indians
had died which stopped the Indians fighting the whites.
It had previously been the policy of the American government to remove and relocate Indians further and further west as the American population grew, but there was only so much...
Wooster R. (1998). The Military and United States Indian policy 1865-1903 (pp. 43, 47). West
illegally settling upon the decreasing land of the Indians that the government noted as theirs. Due
Back in 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. This act required the government to negotiate treaties that would require the Native Americans to move to the west from their homelands. Native Americans would be moved to an area called the Indian Territory which is Oklahoma and parts of Kansas and Nebraska. Some tribes that were to be moved are Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Choctaw, and Chickasaw. All of the other tribes had relocated in the fall of 1831 to the Indian Territory besides the Cherokee who did not relocate until the fall of 1838. They did not move from their homeland without a fight. Their homeland was parts of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and North Carolina. They started this march in the fall of 1838 and finished in early
During the time of the building of the transcontinental railroad, a lot of white men killed the buffalo. They found that as a sport, and even used it to harm the Plains Indians. At that time the buffalo was a main source of food, fur, and a hunting lifestyle for the Plains Indians and by the white man killing it off it effectively hurt them. The white man killed the buffalo in large numbers that almost made them go instinctively, and they hurt the Plains Indians huge. Although the Plains Indians did kill the buffalo for their food and furs, their hunting did not have a large impact on the buffalo population.
Native Americans were not afforded full citizenship in the United States until 1924, therefore they were not afforded the rights of American citizens i.e. religious freedom until then. It wasn’t until 1945, that the Supreme Court held that “Freedom of speech and of press is accorded aliens residing in this country” (Bridges v. Wixon, 326 U.S. 135, 148). In 1890 the Ghost Dance movement gain momentum within the Lakota. This created concern and fear among many whites in the area. A massacre at Wounded Knee on the Lakota Reservation in South Dakota was a direct result of the Euro- American fears of non-Christian people. Tisa Wegner tells us, “in 1906, Congress supported a view, amending the Dawes Act to postpone citizenship for newly allotted Indians for twenty-five-year period or until they had “adopted the habits of civilized life” (Hoxie 1995:211-238). The Native people then developed secular dance ceremonies which allowed them to continue the practice of dancing and not be perceived as a threat, they did this by having these ceremonies coincide with Euro-American
The Indians were being confined to crowed reservations that were poorly run, had scarce game, alcohol was plentiful, the soil was poor, and the ancient religious practices were prohibited. The Indians were not happy that they had been kicked off there land and were now forced to live on a reservation. The Indians then began to Ghost Dance a form of religion it is said that if the Indians were to do this trance like dance the country would be cleansed of white intruders. Also dead ancestors and slaughtered buffalo would return and the old ways would be reborn in a fruitful land. Once the Bureau of Indian affairs noticed what was going on they began to fear this new religion would lead to warfare. The white peoplewere scared that this new dance was a war dance. They called for army protection. Army was called in to try to curbed this new religion before it could start a war.
of the tribe. Because, the European men did not take the commitment to the tribe as seriously
which helped them to grow crops and gather berries. As the years went on the Apache hunters
There were several motives for the removal of the Indians from their lands, to include racism and land lust. Since they first arrived, the white Americans hadn’t been too fond of the Native Americans. They were thought to be highly uncivilized and they had to go. In his letter to Congress addressing the removal of the Indian tribes, President Jackson states the following:
One of the critical tasks that faced the new nation of the United States was establishing a healthy relationship with the Native Americans (Indians). “The most serious obstacle to peaceful relations between the United States and the Indians was the steady encroachment of white settlers on the Indian lands. The Continental Congress, following [George] Washington’s suggestion, issued a proclamation prohibiting unauthorized settlement or purchase of Indian land.” (Prucha, 3) Many of the Indian tribes had entered into treaties with the French and British and still posed a military threat to the new nation.
This is such a good conflict, which made the movie more interesting to watch and you always waited to see what the Indians were going to do next.
The Iroquois had several societies. Such societies were the little water, otter, bear, eagle, and the false face society (Drumm Pp. 7). According to the medical societies “both the ritual and the impetus of the society traditionally originated from supernatural beings or from an Indian’s encounter with a spirit in life or in a dream.” (Drumm Pp. 7) The false face dance is one of the more well known spiritual rituals that the Iroquois would perform. This ritual was discovered by a hunter in the woods. The hunter noticed some hungry false face spirits, and gave them some food. In return, the false face spirits taught him the false face dance ritual.
The Navajo indigenous people of America have a disease within their culture called ghost sickness. This disease is defined as a person who is possessed by the deceased. The symptoms include loss of appetite, weakness, nightmares, and feelings of terror. However, in other cultures ghost sickness could be looked at as PTSD or anxiety symptoms. There is only one way to treat this disease, through performing a ritual with the other tribe
Dance is an ancient human practice, however the earliest record of human dance remains a mystery. By