Native American Authors

Black Elk (Black Elk), 1863-1950

Sioux

Black Elk, a member of the Oglala Sioux, was a religious elder who is perhaps best known now for his autobiography Black Elk Speaks, which was recorded by Nebraska poet John G. Neihardt and published in 1932. Born in Wyoming in 1863, he spent much of his life in South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation (including during the Wounded Knee massacre there in 1890), although he also travelled in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show from 1886-89.

Books by Black Elk:

Elk, Black. Black Elk speaks : being the life story of a holy man of the Oglala Sioux
Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 1979.
Genre: Biography
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0803233019

Elk, Black. The sacred pipe: Black Elk’s account of the seven rites of the Oglala Sioux
Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 1953.
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0806102721

Elk, Black. The Sixth Grandfather: Black Elk’s Teachings Given to John G. Neihardt
Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 1984.
Genre: Nonfiction
Audience: Adult
ISBN: 0803216645

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