Black Elk

Nicholas Black Elk was born in December of 1863. He was born into the Oglala Sioux tribe as a medicine man. At the age of twelve he participated in the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. In 1890 he was injured in the Wounded Knee Massacre. In 1892 Black Elk married his first wife Katie War Bonnett, she became catholic and all of their children were baptized catholic. After she died in 1903 he was baptized catholic and took the name Nicholas Black Elk. In 1905 he remarried to Anna Brings White, a widow of two daughters, and together they had three more children. They remained married until Anna died in 1941. Black Elk felt that God had chosen him to teach his people and lead them to a new way of life. For years he tought the Christian Faith to anyone that he encountered. Nicholas Black Elk died in 1950 still today we here about his love and mercy toward others.

Black Elk

Nicholas Black Elk was born on in December of 1863. He was Sioux Indian. Also a great Medicine man and later on became a Shamanic healer. Most of his family lived in Canada. He had four sons and one daughter. He was also married twice, but both of his wives died. One of his second cousin was Warrior Crazy Horse. The most significant historical event in Black Elks life was "The Great Vision". His vision was the calling to make the sun dance. In this vision Black Elk was presented to the six grandfathers which symbolized The Great Mysterious expressed in powers of four directions plus the Earth and the sky. Eventually Black Elk converted to Roman Catholicism. He then traveled as a catechist for Roman Catholicism on his travels he would tell his vision. Black Elk did not completely leave behind his Indian faith. As Nicholas Black Elk got older he developed poor eyesight. He also had tuberculosis at one point but was treated. Nicholas Black Elk died August 19, 1950. As the founder of the Sun dance, Black Elk was a great theologian spiritual leader and religious thinker. I support this by simply saying he had a vision and taught and healed from that. He also created one of the most important Native American ceremonies.

marina- Black Elk

Black Elk was born in 1863 in today's Wyoming. When he was five, he had to step it up and do all the hunting in his family. His father was wounded from the Fetterman Battle. Many battles kept ovvcuring one after the other and during this time, Black Elk grew very sick. During his illness, he got a vision that took him to Heaven where he got to see the spiriy of man. Black Elk was blessed with knowing when things would go bad. For example he felt something very bad was going to happen and then the goverment basiclly kicked the reservations out and ordered them to move to Canada. The conversion occured when Black Elk healed a sick child. Eventually his name became Nick which was assumed that he was Christian. He traveled and preached. He grew very sick again, this time with tuberculosis. This did not stop his preaching this just dstrengthened his desire to "be ready." Throughout all this He did not lose faith. He lived a life ddevoted to preaching, God, and learning new cultures and languages. Many obstacles were thrown in his way but God got him through it. Black Elk lived the experience from the time the white people entered his world to the victory at the massacre at Wounded Knee. He had personal involvement. For example, when his father returned wounded from the Fetterman Battle. In the middle of all this, Black Elk, as a nine-year old, had a visoion that would change his life and many people's lives. It later became the center of Native American religion.

Will

Black Elk was born on 1863 to his parents, who lived in an area called Little Powder River probably somewhere around Wyoming. He was born into a family of Medicine men because his father and grandfather were both one. During his life he saw a lot of blood shed and destruction of his home land by the white people. Black Elk had to grow up quickly because when he was five he became the hunter for his family because his dad was sadly crippled in a massacre. When he was still very young the Indian wars started. But came down with an unknown ilness. while he was ill he had a vision of him being swept off to heaven and met the sixth grandfathers and also seeing himself as the six Grandfathers, or the sprit of man. Then came the battle of Little Big Horn where he was not able to participate because of his age but sat on the backlines and killed some wounded or injured soldiers. However before the battle he had a vision of something bad happening. That bad thing happened when the U.S. government reduced the reservations land and they were fourced to flee to Canada. Black Elk was able to learn a lot about White culture and language through his opurtunity with the Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. once he returned home Black Elk became facinated with the Ghost Dance and helped lead these ceremonies when U.S. calvery men were called in to break up the dance and the calvery men killed hundereds of the dancers at wounded knee.
The conversion began when Black Elk was called to come perform a healing ceremony for a sick kid. When he arrived there was already a Jesuit Priest there. He was then looked down on by the priest for practicing Shamanism and was thrown out of the tent. Black Elk was not angry, but accepted the idea that the white God was more powerful. Soon after he was baptized and took on the name Nick. He believed now that his calling was to convert his people to christianity. He took the next few years traveling all over and spreading Gods news and power to all the people he saw. When he became to old he was forced to retire how ever he kept on working to bring people to God. He then fell ill again but this time from tuberculosis. But he did not let this stop him from his "duty". He continued to travel and preach to people worse off then him and never let his illness get in his way. When it was about to become time for him to pass he still was not flustered and said that "he was prepared."
Black Elk made a lot of sacrafices over his life. He really was in tune wwith life and could here his callings. He worked vigurously to learn the languages and cultures of others. He was a great provider for his Tribe and Family. And finally he made a conversion and worked to help others to make that decision too. He did not just let his conversion be the last one. He bacame very motiveted and very trusting in God all the way to his death.

Kayla and Black Elk

Black Elk Was born in December of 1863. He was born on the Little Powder River into the tribe of the Oglala Sioux. The Sioux were hunters and relied on buffalo for food, clothing, and shelter. The tribe lived throughout the midwestern plains of North America, until moved to Pine Ridge of South Dakota. At Pine Ridge he became a great spiritual leader. When he was nine he saw a great vision portraying the powers of the world as a medicine man, and as an adult became one. Black Elk or Hehaka Sapa had five sisters and one brother.
Black Elk married a woman named Katie War Bonnett in 1892. Thier three children and were all Catholic. Katie died in 1903 and Black Elk became very sick. While suffing from ulcers he recieved the holy sacraments and never suffered again. On December 6, 1904 he was baptized on the feast of Saint Nicholas and was given the name Nicholas Black Elk. Black Elk never stop leading the Sioux people. In 1905 he remarried. His second wife was a widow named Anna Brings. She had two Daughters and together they had three more chilren. They were together until her death in 1941.
Black Elk was known for his spiritual leading. He aided the elders, sick, and the dying. He felt the spirit of God in him. Black Elk chose to teach people the right way to live and also taught them that they can have new life through God. He worked hard to show other people the hope, love, and peace he found in God.
Even when he becmae to old he still prayed harder than he did before; he still aided the sick, dying and whoever needed help.
Even though Black Elk died in 1950 we still here of his love and mercy. He was a great christian and set a good example that we must all try and follow. We should all learn from Black Elk and find love, hope, and mercy in Jesus.

Black Elk

Black Elk or Hehaka Sapa was born in December of 1863 in Little Powder Wyoming to the Oglala Lakota or Sioux tribe. As an adolescent he witnessed the Battle of Little Bighorn and the disturbance that followed forcing his tribe to flee to Canada. He was also wounded during the attack at Wounded Knee. In 1886 he joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Tour but by 1889 he was back to the Pine Ridge Reservation where he became a spiritual leader. Black Elk’s first married in 1892 to Katie War Bonnet who became a Catholic. Their three children were all raised as Catholics, and shortly following Katie’s death in 1903 Black Elk was baptized where he took the name Nicholas Black Elk.
He continued to be a spiritual leader among the Sioux people finding no contradiction in his Native American and Christian beliefs. He remarried in 1905 to Anna Brings White who was a widow and had two daughters of her own. She gave birth to three more of Black Elk’s children and remained his wife until her death in 1941.
Black Elk knew that the Sundance Ceremony was very important to him and all the Sioux people, so when it was suppressed by the U.S. Government and other religious groups he did everything in his power to make it legalize. In 1929 it was once again openly practiced at Pine Ridge, South Dakota. Black Elk described Sundance as “A council of old men, where one of the men began to dance in a specific manner.”
In 1904 Black Elk was called to aid a dying boy. When he arrived at the boy’s bedside he noticed there was a Jesuit priest there as well, wearing the required black robes. Black Elk felt that there was a spiritual presence far greater than anything he had ever felt before and became intrigued by it. The priest invited Black Elk to stay at the mission, and he agreed not knowing that it would change his life forever. On December 6th he was baptized into the Catholic Faith and took the name Nicholas. Similar to his feelings as being chosen a Sioux Medicine Man, Black Elk felt that God had chosen him to teach his people and lead them to a new way of living.
For thirty-one years Black Elk taught the Christian Faith to everyone that he encountered. For years he labored to spread the news of the hope, love, and mercy that was found in Jesus. Even when he was forced to retire because of old age, he continued to visit, console and pray with others who were older and sicker than he. Even though he was ill and suffering he remained happy and cheerful. As his days grew fewer, he told to his daughter Lucy that he was well prepared. He said, “that a sacred man, a very holy priest from overseas, came every day and prayed with him.” No one doubted him.
Today Sundance is practiced several times a year in different locations across the mid-west. Sundancers can be compared to Christian Martyrs in that they give a flesh offering on the 2nd to 4th day of dancing. It is a small offering but symbolizes the pain and suffering they are willing to go through in thanks of all God’s gifts to us.

Black Elk- Aravind

Black Elk is a revered spiritual leader that is well known for being an instrumental part of bringing Christianity to North Americana and among the Native American tribes. Black Elk was a member of the of the Oglala Lakota tribe and was born in 1863. During his lifetime, a civil war was occurring in the United States and the Native American tribes were a central part of it. He married his first wife, Katie War Bonnet, in 1892 and also, through her, became baptized in England. With the Catholic faith, he served as a faithful catechist in England. After returning to America, he began serving as a spiritual leader, bring Christianity to North America. He also remarried in 1905 to Anna White and remained married until her death. They had three children, and Black Elk was also the second cousin of Crazy Horse, a respected war leader of the Oglala Lakota. Black Elk's suffered from tuberculosis, which may have been spread through the foreign invasion from the American colonizers. He was confined to a wheelchair and was slightly paralyzed in the hospital..

A central part of Black Elk's life as his great vision. This occurred when he was nine years old while he was suffering from a life threatening illness. During that time, he had a “Great Vision” that took him into the Lakota world where he met six grandfathers who symbolized the powers of the four directions: North, South, East, West and the earth and the sky. This vision gave him the ability to unite his people and bring religion to the whole of North America. He started these teachings n Montana, with a medicine mane called Black Road, and also wrote about the experience in his widely revered book, Black Elk Speaks. His whole life was spent trying to provide hope and determination for his tribe, aspects that made him a widely revered leader in the Native American tribes, and throughout the rest of the world. That is why I think he is considered a great theologian and spiritual leader, because of his preserving qualities and his abilities to communicate to a widespread audience.