Black Elk, Lakota Visionary: The Oglala Holy Man and Sioux Tradition

by Harry Oldmeadow, Charles Trimble (Foreword by)

Overview

Black Elk (1863-1950), the Lakota holy man, is beloved by millions of readers around the world. The book Black Elk Speaks is the most widely-read Native American testimony of the last century and a key work in our understanding of American Indian traditions. In Black Elk, Lakota Visionary, Harry Oldmeadow draws on recently discovered sources and in-depth research to provide a major re-assessment of Black Elk’s life and work. The author explores Black Elk’s mystical visions, his controversial engagement with Catholicism, and his previously unrecognized attempts to preserve and revive ancestral Sioux beliefs and practices. Oldmeadow’s lively and highly readable account also examines the controversies that have surrounded Black Elk and his collaborators, John G. Neihardt and Joseph Epes Brown. Oldmeadow judiciously explains why both Black Elk Speaks and The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux are to be ranked amongst the most profound spiritual documents of the twentieth century. Black Elk, Lakota Visionary will command the attention of every reader who is interested in the American Indians, providing fascinating insights into their ancestral traditions prior to the reservation era, the subsequent destruction and revival of their traditional ways, and the vital lessons which the contemporary world might draw from their spiritual legacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781936597604
Publisher:	World Wisdom
Publication date:	04/07/2018
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	1,157,177
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Harry Oldmeadow was, until his retirement in 2012, Coordinator of Philosophy and Religious Studies at La Trobe University Bendigo. His previous publications include Journeys East: 20th Century Western Encounters with Eastern Religious Traditions, Frithjof Schuon and the Perennial Philosophy, and Traditionalism: Religion in the Light of the Perennial Philosophy. He lives in Bendigo, Australia. Charles Trimble was former Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians and principal founder of the American Indian Press Association. He is an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2013. The author of Iyeska, he is now retired and lives in Omaha, Nebraska.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Charles Trimble xi Introduction xiii 1. Nomadic Peoples and the Mark of Cain 1 2. The World of the Lakota 15 3. A Sacred Voice is Calling: 33 The Life of Black Elk 4. The Sacred Hoop and the Flowering Tree: 57 Black Elk’s Great Vision 5. Preserving Black Elk’s Legacy: 75 John G. Neihardt, Joseph Epes Brown, and Their Critics 6. Lakota Traditionalist and/or Catholic Catechist? 99 7. The Holy Man from the East 115 Conclusion: From Harney Peak 133 Appendix I: Excerpts from Letters of Joseph Epes Brown 145 Appendix II: Prayer Given to Fr. Gall by Black Elk 162 Appendix III: Selections from Letters of Frithjof Schuon 163 Notes 175 Sources 205 Acknowledgments 216 Index 217 Biographical Notes 225

Editorial Reviews

04/30/2018
Historian Oldmeadow (The Betrayal of Tradition) skillfully considers the legacy of Black Elk (1863–1950), a Lakota holy man who is best known through poet John Neihardt’s 1932 biography Black Elk Speaks. Oldmeadow balances contemporary research with presentations of the debate about the facts of Black Elk’s life and legacy, including his working relationships with non-Native collaborators who documented his words. The bulk concerns three figures: Neihardt, who had a “creative and editorial” role in Black Elk’s biography; scholar Joseph Epes Brown, who wrote about Native American rituals in his 1947 book The Sacred Pipe; and Frithjof Schoen, a scholar and mentor to Brown whose work explores the “polysynthetic animism” of Native American spirituality. Oldmeadow addresses and largely dismisses criticisms in current scholarship about the impact of the non-Native lens, such as the encouragement of the romantic image of the noble savage and the omission, misinterpretation, and misuse of Black Elk’s “dual participation” in Catholicism. For Oldmeadow, despite their own outsider worldviews, much of what was problematic about the collaborators (their connection to publishing houses, their Christian background) ingratiated them to Black Elk, and his descendants who saw the collaborators as colleagues and preservers. Readers interested in Black Elk will find this book an effective synthesis of the scholarship on the mystic’s life. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Black Elk, Lakota Visionary studies the debate among scholarly specialists as they reconstruct the history behind the life story and Great Vision of the wicasa wakan. Their exchange of views is counterbalanced by an examination of Lakota spirituality in relationship to Western and Eastern religious traditions. Exposure to this discourse will inspire the reader to appreciate the universality of tradition and revelation in Lakota ancestral wisdom and one’s place in a world of order with beauty and meaning.

Vivian Arviso Deloria

This detailed study of Black Elk explores the complex relationships that this sacred healer had with John Neihardt, Joseph Brown, and Frithjof Schuon. Oldmeadow describes the intertwined lives of these men and their controversial collaborations with respect and insight.

John A. Grim

Black Elk stands out in bold relief. The dazzling clarity of his visions has incited the spiritually minded everywhere. Thank you Harry Oldmeadow for bringing us closer to the heart of Black Elk and his universal vision.

Kevin Locke

There have been many books written about the Lakota holy man known to the world as Black Elk. However, none have done a more thorough job of assessing the entirety of his life—including his far from naïve engagement with Catholicism—than this extremely readable volume by Harry Oldmeadow. I recommend it to anyone interested not only in Black Elk himself but in the stubbornly enduring nature of Native American spiritual life.

Joseph Bruchac

Harry Oldmeadow brings together in one volume information that comes from specialists in cultural anthropology as well as rich insights into the human condition from scholars like Mircea Eliade and Frithjof Schuon. Building upon this background, Oldmeadow explores the cultural legacy of Black Elk and the Sioux people. He does so using ordinary language which enables the reader to grasp the rich vision of this holy man and his world.

Richard Davies

A significant contribution to the Black Elk literature. Especially valuable for new information on Joseph Epes Brown and the composition of The Sacred Pipe.

Clyde Holler

Black Elk, Lakota Visionary is a wonderful addition to understanding this Oglala holy man’s significance in both Native American and United States history. Harry Oldmeadow uses new sources to reassess Black Elk’s life, impact, and the controversies with John G. Neihardt, Joseph Epes Brown, and his adoption of Catholicism.. .. Oldmeadow demonstrates how the views of Frithjof Schoun, the pre-eminent Perennialist philosopher, offer a better understanding of Black Elk. All students of Native American history and of Black Elk should be required to read this valuable contribution to the literature.

Raymond Wilson

This is an extraordinary book. Oldmeadow’s groundbreaking interpretation takes Black Elk studies to a profound new level. His nuanced analysis weaves together the many distinctive strands into a cohesive whole—one that forms a particularly rich and intimate perspective on the place of Black Elk across disciplines. Black Elk, Lakota Visionary truly completes the hoop and creates a depth and dimensionality that leap off the page.

Wilhelm K. Meya

Anyone familiar with Native American history and culture knows Black Elk Speaks, a key piece central to understanding American Indians; but Black Elk, Lakota Visionary takes a different approach in re-assessing Black Elk’s life and work, exploring his mystical visions, encounters with Catholicism, and his testament to spiritual realities as they relate to ancestral Sioux belief systems. From interpretations of Black Elk Speaks to how to study his spiritual perspective, Black Elk, Lakota Visionary would best be used as a companion to the classic, offering many viewpoints and insights key to appreciating Black Elk’s philosophy and spiritual wisdom.

Midwest Book Review