Acollaborative effort, Black Elk Speaks was the result of a series of interviews between Nick Black Elk, an American Indian from a Sioux tribe, and John Neihardt, a white poet. Black Elk, a holy man who fought in the Indian wars of the late 1800s, struggled throughout his life with the firm belief that he was supposed to save his people from the encroachment of white settlers. Neihardt wrote the narrative, which is about Black Elk's early years, in the first person, as if the words were spoken by Black Elk himself. Neihardt also added information from his own research and included passages that are represented as the words of other American Indian leaders.
The Teton Sioux. Divided into various groups, the Sioux nation occupied a large portion of the Great Plains during the 1800s. Black Elk belonged to the Teton Sioux, a nation of seven tribes that included the Brule, Hunkpapa, Blackfeet, Miniconjou, Sans Arc, Two Kettle, and Oglala Sioux. Black Elk was a member of the Oglala tribe.
Born in 1863, Black Elk grew up during a time when buffalo were vital to the health of the Teton Sioux.
