Black Hawk (ca. 1832-1890?) was a member of the Sans Arc or Itazipco band of Lakota people.[1] He is best known as an artist who, in 1880-1881, produced a set of seventy-six color "ledger drawings" of Lakota life and spiritual visions for William Edward Caton, the federal "Indian trader" at the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.[1] Black Hawk received fifty cents per drawing from Caton.[1] Black Hawk is believed to have have been killed in the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 but this is not certain.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b c d Berlo, Janet Catherine (2000). Spirit Beings and Sun Dancers: Black Hawk's Vision of the Lakota World. New York, NY: George Braziller in association with the New York State Historical Association. ISBN 0-8076-1465-3.
External links
- "Drawing on Tribal History" by Inga Kiderra. This @UCSD magazine article is about ledger drawings and features Black Hawk and his work.
- "Black Hawk Ledger," a virtual gallery of Black Hawk's drawings on the Plains Indian Ledger Art web site.
