The Ghost Dance

 

In the late 1880s, the Ghost Dance emerged among Native American tribes, particularly the Lakota Sioux, as a spiritual movement promising renewal and resistance. Inspired by Paiute prophet Wovoka, it envisioned a world free of white settlers, where ancestors would return, and buffalo would thrive. Dancers performed circular rituals, chanting and praying for salvation. The U.S. government, fearing rebellion, suppressed the movement, culminating in the tragic Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890, where hundreds of Lakota were killed. After the Wounded Knee Massacre practice of the Ghost Dance went underground.

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