The Ghost Shirt

 

 

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This pathfinder should assist anyone interested in learning about how and why the Sioux Ghost Shirt changed the Ghost Dance and attitudes toward Americans.

By Laney Towle

 

Primary Sources:

Bear, Luther Standing. My People the Sioux. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1928.

 

            ~This book is a valuable because it is a primary source. Standing Bear offers his experience with the introduction and development of the Ghost Dance while living at the Pine Ridge reservationÑone of the most significant sites of the movement. As a Lakota, he offers his knowledge on the unique beliefs and interpretations of his people while still managing to tackle the topic from a somewhat removed perspective.

 

McLaughlin, James, memorandum to the United States government, November 6, 1890. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/5641589

 

            ~The letter, I assume was written to the United States government, from a Pine Ridge agent literally lists off reasons for the Ghost Dance uprising. Even better, it is from a seemingly unbiased primary source. This is effective material to back up an argument against the U.S. government and their oppression and unfair treatment of Native Americans on reservations during the late 1800s.

 

Mooney, James. The Ghost-dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1896.

 

            ~This book is most definitely one of the most, if not the most valuable source on the subject of the Ghost Dance movement, the causes of its outbreak, the truth behind WovokaÕs vision, its variations and intricacies between tribes across the nation, and the response from whites. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is researching anything related to the Ghost Dance. It is quite lengthy, but also quite organized and easy to navigate and pinpoint exactly what you are researching.

 

ÒThe Ghost Dance.Ó The Wichita Daily Eagle (Wichita, KS), Nov. 22, 1890. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82014635/1890-11-22/ed-1/seq-1/

 

            ~This is a newspaper article documents an eyewitness account of the Ghost Dance from the perspective of a white woman. It demonstrates how settlers saw and feared the Ghost Dance, and just how ignorant they were to the importance it had to the Native Americans.

 

Secondary Sources:

Agonito, Joseph. Lakota Portraits: Lives of the Legendary Plains People. Morris Book Publishing, 2011.

 

            ~This book was immensely helpful in identifying the physical characteristics of the Ghost shirt and the meaning behind them. It also has a ton, I mean a ton, of information about the Sioux and Lakota. This context helped me understand the gravity of the whole religion and the role it played in the lived of the people of the plains in the late 19th century.

 

Andersson, Rani-Henrik. The Lakota Ghost Dance of 1890. University of Nebraska Press, 2008.

 

            ~This book gives a great background on the Ghost Dance and its origins. It has a decently sized section on the Ghost shirt and provides many examples and evidence of times where the shirt influenced conflict between Natives and Americans, and its role in battles such as Wounded Creek (if you can even call that a ÒbattleÓ).

 

Coleman, William S. E. Voices of Wounded Knee. University of Nebraska Press, 2000.

 

            ~This book was advantageous in providing the detailed account of a former Pine Ridge teacher Mrs. A. A. Parker. Although you can find her eyewitness story in other places, I think the juxtaposition of sources from both sides during the Ghost Dance movement are what make it valuable. If you are looking for firsthand reports and an in-depth look at the Wounded Knee Massacre, this is a good place to start.

 

Hittman, Michael. Wovoka and the Ghost Dance, Edited by Don Lynch. University of Nebraska Press, 1997.

 

            ~Although I did not use much information from this book, I can see it being a good resource for someone studying Wovoka and his influences. Views from many historians and well as primary sources are compiled in this book to fill in the gaps on how exactly the Ghost Dance Religion spread and came to be. There are various adaptations and myths regarding Wovoka and his doctrine, but I think this book does a good job in addressing them.

 

Nash, Philleo. Oral history interview. By Jerry N. Hess. Washington D.C., June 24, 1966. https://www.trumanlibrary.org/oralhist/nash1.htm

 

            ~I am not actually sure what most of this interview is about, but I do know that is from a trusted historian for the Harry S. Truman Library. Philleo Nash has a background in domestic and war operations from the countryÕs earlier days, which makes him a reliable source on Indian affairs. I only use one quote from him, but he seems to be knowledgeable about just how badly Americans treated Natives during the height of the Ghost Dance.

 

Ostler, Jeffrey. The Lakotas and The Black Hills: The Struggle for Sacred Ground. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2010.

 

            ~Although I did not use much information from this book either, it clarifying why the Lakota in particular turned to the Ghost Dance so quickly, and what events led to their interpretation. If I were delving into more about the Black Hills and their significance, I would have used more from this book. Maybe next time you will think before planning a trip to Mount Rushmore.

 

Utley, Robert Marshall. The Last Days of the Sioux Nation. Yale University Press, 2004.

 

            ~This book is very useful for anyone wanting to gain a deeper understanding of the Sioux Nation. It goes into detail about their rituals and belief systemÑmany details that we overlook and undermine as untrue. I found much of this information interesting and much more significant in the context of what happened to the plains Indians during the Ghost Dance movement.