The Ghost Dance Essay

On June 25, 1876, The Battle of Little Bighorn took place near the Black Hills in Montana. This was one of the most controversial battles of the 20th century and the line between good guys and bad guys was grey at best. Gen. George Armstrong Custer (reduced to LTC after the civil war) had 366 men of the 7thU.S. Cavalry under his command that day. Sitting Bull (A Medicine Man) led 2000 braves of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes (Klos, 2013). At the conclusion of the battle, the stories of the Indians savagery were used to demonize their culture and there were no survivors from the 7thcavalry to tell what really happened.

In 1973, Christopher Bruce heard about the murders going on in the small villages and towns of Chile on the orders of the government; just to show off their power, and how they were not afraid to use it. Bruce found out as a result of a letter received from a widow of a Chilean folk singer who had been murdered. He was asked to do work for the Chilean Human Rights Committee. The dance first premiered in 1988, the costume designer being Belinda Scarlett and the music being by Incantation, playing the song ‘Ojos Azules’ which is Spanish for ‘Blue Eyes’.

The Lakota and Northern Cheyenne Indians along with a few other defiant tribes, joined forces under the Lakota holy man, Sitting Bull, in an active resistance to U.S. expansion (Gregory, 2016). In 1876, federal troops were dispatched to force the noncompliant Indians onto their reservations and to pacify the Great Plains (Powers, 2010).

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Sitting Bull was born in 1834 into the tribal traditions of the nomadic northern plains Indians6. Sitting Bull displayed great potential in his tribe as a hunter and began to participate as a warrior of the tribe. Through his actions during conflicts and the leadership he displayed, Sitting Bull was given the honor to be inducted into the Strong Heart Warrior Society, an honor bestowed only to the bravest warriors. By the mid 1850’s he began to assert political influence on his tribe by taking control of the Strong Hearts7. Sitting Bull knew about the relocation of the Eastern tribes by the whites and the tactics used to push them off their land. Sitting Bull not only dealt with relocating eastern Indian tribes, but also settlers who continued to push into the Sioux lands. The settlers knew the boundaries of the Sioux area and continued to push into the land disregarding the boundaries. Sitting Bull was never elected to be chief in his tribe, but his prestige and influence was greater than other high-ranking political leaders in his tribe8. Sitting Bull demonstrated his ability as a leader through the constant pursuit he displayed

In the south of central Montana during 1876 on June 25th and 26th, a battle happened known as the Battle of Little Bighorn or also known as “Custer’s Last Stand”. The Native American Tribes that were involved was the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. They were battling against the 7th regiment of the US Cavalry which was led by Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer. In the year of 1868 Lakota leaders agreed to a treaty known as Fort Laramie Treaty which was suppose to give the Lakota leaders a large reservation for their tribes. But in accepting the treaty they also accepted giving up their nomadic lifestyles and agreed to a more stationary livelihood in the reservation. Some leaders like Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse did not agree

In 1874 the US Army sent a force under Colonel Custer into South Dakota. When gold was discovered in the area, the federal government declared that all Sioux Indians not in reservations would have to be subjugated by Custer’s troops. Many Sioux refused to cooperate, and Custer began to attack. At the battle of Little Bighorn, in June 1876, Custer split his troops, and a larger force of Indians wiped out all of his men. After this defeat, the army took a different course by harassing the Sioux in attrition. Indians eventually lost the will to resist as these strategies were commonly successful against the Sioux. In the December of 1890, approximately 300 Indians were killed by US troops at Wounded Knee. This massacre was the indication to the end of Indian opposition. The Plains Indians were eventually conquered and forced into reservations.

After the Sioux signed the peace treaty the soldiers wanted to take more of their land, they had forced the Sioux out f their own land, the Sioux had to move to the reservations instead. Sitting Bull once again joined with the other Sioux chiefs in 1876, to fight back and get their land back from the government. Together the tribes fought back against the government to take back

​The Great Sioux War or The Black Hills War (1876- 1877) was a series of battles trying to force the Sioux and Cheyenne people back into the Great Sioux Reservation. In 1868, the Treaty of Laramie was signed by Sioux leaders to give up their lands and move west onto the reservations. In 1874 LTC George Custer was tasked to reconnoiter the Black Hills (part of the Sioux reservation). His primary task was to survey the land and look for natural resources during a time of great economic depression. After the discovery of gold in the Black Hills, rumors spread and miners flooded into the hills. Lakota Warrior, Crazy Horse, led many attacks on LTC Custer’s surveying parties in the hills. Crazy Horse and his warriors were trying to keep the white

Custer’s death and defeat at Little Bighorn, led the Army to change its tactics. The troops surrounded villages of Red Cloud and Red Leaf. There, they arrested and confined the leaders, holding them responsible for failing to turn in those from hostile bands. After, the tribal leaders finally signed a new treaty giving the Black Hills to the United States (Keenan 213).

In early 1876, tension grew between the Indians and Americans due to territory control in the West. Indians occupied land that Americans wanted to have control of, but Indians considered their land sacred and were not willing to give it up without a fight. The fight to protect and keep their sacred land led to the Battle of Little Big Horn. Sitting Bull played a big role in the Battle of Little Big Horn because he was one of the chiefs that led the Indians. The video clip “A good day to die” mentions that Sitting Bull prayed to the gods asking for their help. Also, Sitting Bull had visions that showed him what was going to happen in their encounter with the American Army, which helped give the Indians faith that everything was going to end

With the discovery of gold on the Indians’ reservation, the United States invaded the region ignoring the previous treaty agreements with the Indians. Many Sioux and Cheyenne tribesmen left the reservation, and joined Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in Montana. The Battle of the Little Bighorn, and also commonly referred to as Custer’s Last Stand, was a battle between the combined tribes of Lakota, Cheyenne, Hunkpapa, and Sioux against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. It is said to be the most famous action of the Great Sioux

When gold was found in the Black Hills in 1874, settlers broke the Treaty of Fort Laramie and poured into the Native Americans’ land (Taylor 88). $6 million were offered to Indians for the Black Hills, but Red Cloud would take no less than $600 million (Sanford, William R. Oglala 38), causing the War for the Black Hills between the Sioux and the US Army (Waldman 294-295). Red Cloud chose not to fight in the war but continued to work hard to preserve his rights and culture (Red). At the end of the war, the great chief was forced to give the Black Hills away and move to the Pine Ridge Agency on Great Sioux reservation in South Dakota (Waldman 295; Sanford, William R. Oglala 40). Even on the reservation, he continued to stand against the United States by opposing a flag raising at the agency (Allen 113-121). “You see this barren waste?” he said years later, “Washington took our lands and promised to feed and support us. Now I, who used to control 5,000 warriors, must tell Washington when I am hungry. I must beg for that which I own. If I beg hard they put me in the guardhouse. We have trouble. Our girls are getting bad. Coughing sickness every winter carries away our best people. My heart is heavy, I am old, I cannot do much more.” On December 10, 1909,

The three recordings that I chose are Adam Lambert’s Ghost Town, Sully Erna from Godsmack’s Voodoo, and Benjamin Burnley from Breaking Benjamin’s Dairy of Jane. In Ghost Town, Adam Lambert’s voice is very distinctive where he has a smooth, light, and velvety sound for a good portion of the song, however, during some portions, such as towards the ending, his timbre is very dark, rich, and full. Thought the entire song his timbre holds a somber feeling even when singing a considerably light. Sully Erna (the lead singer of Godsmack) during Voodoo has a very raspy, dark, and thin timber.

On Saturday 25th February, 2017, 10.00 am was a strategic moment to watch the film, “Forest of the Dancing Spirits” at the Roxy Theater Missoula considering the theme of the film. A shift from the conventional movie based on urban contexts, the uniqueness of the film results from the stunning insights that it offers into an endangered way of human life. The film covers the life of members of the Aka tribe living inside the rainforest of the Congo Basin that is yet to be disturbed by civilization. Traditional rituals and ancestral myths are used to highlight the significant degree that the tribe is yet to establish contact with the external world. A surprising aspect is their approach to spirituality. They rely on their religion in critical