Ghost Dance Research Paper

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Ghost Dance was initially created by Wodziwob in 1870. Later in the 1870s, it died down because Wodziwob’s visions were not coming true. Then a Paiute medicine man named Wovoka saw a vision where he was told to dance in order to receive a better life. The Ghost Dance got its second wind by Wovoka in 1890. Wovoka’s vision was that by performing the dance, Indians would get their old life back, buffaloes would return, and all the whites would be gone. In order for this to work, Wovoka told others to behave better and refrain from bad things, for example: no fighting or hurting anyone, treating another fairly, always doing what is right, always telling the truth, do not fight with the whites and remain peaceful, etc. (Ghost Dance). These were…show more content…
The main tribe out those groups was the Lakota. They supported the dance movement, but changed what Wovoka preached. Instead of peace, they looked for violence. They wanted to use the dance movement to take on the whites. Due to this violence approach, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) took notice (Ghost Dance). They felt like the Indians were getting out of control and this dance movement was a way to take the fight to them. They feared this because this was during a time when Native Americans were being moved to reservations. Some resisted but the U.S. military forced them to move. So when this violence approach came about, the U.S. feared the Native Americans were gaining momentum for more resistance. A member of the Lakota tribe, Kicking Bear met with Sitting Bull to provide his version of the Ghost Dance. Sitting Bull did not believe it was true, but he gave permission for Kicking Bear to remain at Standing Rock and teach the Ghost Dance. BIA had Kicking Bear removed, but that did not stop the dance movement. This made BIA fear for more violence, so they called on Washington to send in troops to stop this movement and protect the settlers. In 1890, troops arrived at the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota to protect settlers, who feared violence and an uprising (Ghost Dance). On December 15 of 1890, U.S. Army went into Sitting

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