Nicholas Black Elk

Born: December 1, 1863

Died: August 19, 1950

Black Elk was thoroughly and completely Catholic. After his baptism in 1904, he taught himself to read the Bible in Lakota. Because of his zeal, the Jesuits appointed him to the position of catechist, which in Black Elk’s community functioned much like a permanent deacon does today. He became famous for memorizing scripture and weaving passages into his oratory. He was a long-term missionary to other tribes and is credited with bringing over 400 people into the church.

Black Elk’s Catholic faith had a traditional hue that I didn’t expect. Devotions, such as the rosary and Sacred Heart, were important to his prayer life. Black Elk loved the Latin liturgy and sang his grandchildren to sleep with Latin hymns from the high Mass. He was comfortable weaving these into his Lakota spirituality, not replacing it.

What I saw then and even more clearly when I continued the project in graduate school was how Christianity addressed questions about the colonial situation the Lakota faced. Black Elk wasn’t the broken old man that Black Elk Speaks portrays, and the Lakota world didn’t end with Wounded Knee. The Catholic faith, despite the church’s participation in the colonial oppression of the Lakota, was a key ingredient to proactively survive the upheaval.

—Damian Costello