The 1870 and 1890 Ghost Dance Movement of American Indian

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe the Ghost Dance and how it spread to Native American tribes. This paper discusses the history of the Native American and how they were pushed farther and farther westward and limited to a very small area. While the white Americans moved westwards towards the Mississippi river after the Civil war they clashed with the Native American Indians. The White Americans sought to take advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862 which gave them free land. The Indians occupying the west were the original dwellers having stayed there for hundreds of generations until they driven there by the whites. The federal government altered it agreements and policies for the benefit of the white Americans that also led them to displace the Indians. Many of the Indian wars have their origin with government’s broken promises such as the Pyramid battle and the Wounded Knee massacre. The Ghost Dance is a ceremonial religious dance connected with the messiah doctrine, which originated among the Paviotso in Nevada, and spread rapidly among other tribes until it numbered among its adherents nearly all the Indians of the interior basin, from Missouri river to or beyond the Rockies. Also, the Ghost Dance is a spiritual movement that came around 1870s when conditions were bad on Indian reservations and they needed something to give them hope. This movement found its origin in a Paiute Indian named Wovoka, who announced that he was the messiah come to earth to prepare the Indians for their salvation. This paper describes how the United States army and government treat the Ghost Dance led to the Wounded Knee massacre and the events of massacre. In addition, the political issues about the massacre and the Ghost Dance religion describes in this paper regarding to the 1870 and 1890 Ghost Dance movements.