Black Elk (1863–1950)

American Indian religious leader, born into the Oglala Lakota people. He tried to find ways of reconciling indigenous traditions with Christianity and the new reality of white dominance. Although he continued his calling as a shaman, he converted to Christianity in 1886.

At the age of 17, Black Elk had a vision of the Lakota people rising up and freeing their lands from the white settlers. In order to understand more about this invading culture, he joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and toured the USA and Europe. When he returned home, he witnessed the disaster of the Ghost Dance movement, which swept through American Indian communities in the late 1800s and taught that they would be made invincible and throw out the white settlers. The movement was crushed at Wounded Knee in 1890. This seems to have led Black Elk to question his calling and he converted to Catholicism in 1904.