Cheyenne-Arapaho Ration Card Used During the Time of the Land Run, courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society
Winter had always been a time of scarcity for both agricultural and nomadic peoples. Even when crops were good and supplies safe, winter generally meant fewer food choices and dwindling stores of edibles that could not be replenished until spring arrived.
Native Americans faced extreme threats to their food supply by the twentieth century: Continue reading
Tree Burial of the Oglala Sioux near Ft. Laramie, Wyo. courtesy National Archives
Robert Brings Plenty, a Sioux Indian from South Dakota’s Pine Ridge reservation, was one of Canton Asylum’s first patients. He lasted less than one year, dying of (probably) an epileptic episode on May 20, 1903. Continue reading
Ghostshirt
By 1889 many Indian tribes were in a state of despair from poverty, hunger, and disease. A Paiute shaman named Wovoka (1854?- 1932)had a vision in which white people were destroyed, and the earth reborn and returned to Indians. Buffalo and antelope would be plentiful again, and there would be no more hunger and violence. Believers took part in ceremonial cleansing, meditation, and prayer, and endeavored to hasten the new beginning through the Ghost Dance.
Many tribes, but especially the Lakota Sioux, embraced Wovoka’s vision. The U.S. government feared a new wave of violence because of his predictions about the destruction of whites, and banned the Ghost Dance. The government’s determination to destroy this apocalyptic religion led to the Massacre at Wounded Knee.
Ghost Dance at Pine Ridge Reservation, Frederic Remington
Burial After Wounded Knee Massacre, courtesy Library of Congress
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