The Ghost Dance

Tribal Fashion and Communication

Displayed on Level 3 of the Maureen & Mike Mansfield Library, October-November 2022

Lakota ledger drawings depicting the ghost dance and a dancer riding unharmed through a hail of bullets.

Origins of the Ghost Dance

Wovoka

Wovoka (also known as Jack Wilson) was a Northern Paiute spiritual leader and the intellectual source of the Ghost Dance. Sometime in 1888 or early 1889, Wovoka was filled with an optimistic belief that God intended to renew the world, to “have it made over again”. Wovoka fell into a deep trance while cutting wood in the Pine Grove Mountains and “was taken up to the other world,” where he “saw God, with all the people who had died long ago”. God gave him instructions to perform a dance “at intervals, for five consecutive days each time, [and] they would secure this happiness to themselves and hasten the event”. A modification of the Paiute Round Dance, the Ghost Dance soon spread to many western & southwestern tribes.

A collage of images. The top image is a map, "Known Trips Concerning the Ghost Dance, 1888-1891". The left side image is a newspaper clipping with the headline They Expect a Savior, Indians at Western Agencies who Hope to Join a Supernatural Being. Text to the right reads: New York Sun, April 27, 1890 (left) Pine Ridge Agent Gallagher to Comm. of Indian Affairs, June 10, 1890 (below). The bottom image is a section of a letter discussing how the agent ordered the police to disperse a gathering because it was "silliness" that "would seriously interfere with the farm work".
A collage of images. The top image is a map, "Known Trips Concerning the Ghost Dance, 1888-1891". The left side image is a newspaper clipping with the headline They Expect a Savior, Indians at Western Agencies who Hope to Join a Supernatural Being. Text to the right reads: New York Sun, April 27, 1890 (left) Pine Ridge Agent Gallagher to Comm. of Indian Affairs, June 10, 1890 (below). The bottom image is a section of a letter discussing how the agent ordered the police to disperse a gathering because it was "silliness" that "would seriously interfere with the farm work".

Communication and Spread

Native Americans had lines of communication across the US. In June 1890, a brigadier general noted Wovoka's teachings “had quite a wide diffusion and excited much interest amongst a number of tribes”. Tribes like the Pottawatomies with no dance tradition learned about the ceremony through the mail, receiving a letter “from the Sioux to adopt their dance". News of the dance had reached as far as Hampton, Virginia, by the summer of 1890. By November 1890, Native-authored letters about the Ghost Dance had crossed the Atlantic.

The US Military responded to the Ghost Dance with mail censorship and violence, culminating in the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Correspondences to the Comissioner of Indian Affairs advocating for mail censorship

December 15th, 1890

Sioux leader Chief Sitting Bull was shot by authorities who feared he might flee the reservation with other Ghost Dance adherents.

December 29th, 1890

The US 7th Cavalry massacred hundreds of Sioux men, women, and children.

Clipping from a letter.

The Ghost Dance continued in many communities after Wounded Knee. An example of this can be seen in a March 5th, 1891 letter from Many Eagles (or Plenty Eagles) a member of the Oglala tribe living at Pine Ridge. This letter to his sister advises her to believe in the dance: “I would like to inform you of something. It is in regard to the dance which created a commotion up there. It is the truth and will surely come to pass”.


Further information about intertribal networks can be found at:

Front Page - We Do Not Want the Gates Closed Between Us


A comparison between the preferred layout of a Lakota ghost dance dress and an Arapaho ghost dance dress. (Arapaho: Buffalo Bill Historical Center #204.4)

Ghost Dance fashion was not uniform across tribal groups, but common visual themes included the stars & bars of the American flag, birds, and a four-hands motif.

Images and information about Ghost Dance garments came from the following source:

Ghost Dance resources in the Mike & Maureen Mansfield Library Collection:

Physical and virtual display by Stephanie Hohn

Wovoka