Item Number JLGt046
- Matte print on photographic paper
- 9-1/4" X 13-5/8" actual photo size
- 1-3/4" soft white matte (all around)
- 2-3/4" rustic/finished pine wood frame (all around)
- 18-1/8" X 22-5/8" finished size
- Shipping weight = 6lbs.
- Price = $150.00 (Includes shipping!)
- To purchase, call: (518) 915-4949
Or, send an e-mail to: jeff@jlgardnerphotography.com

What started the violence on that fateful, bitter cold morning of December 29th, 1890, was a ritual called the "Ghost Dance" which frightened the white settlers in the area and had them believing an Indian uprising was looming.

Here's something more about the "Ghost Dance" and it's originator, "Wovoka": "A phenomena swept the American west in 1888 by Paiute holy man Wovoka from Nevada. Wovoka, son of the mystic Tavibo, drew on his father's teachings and his own vision during an eclipse of the sun. He began spreading the "gospel" that came to be known as the Ghost Dance Religion. He claimed that the earth would soon perish and then come alive again in a pure, aboriginal state, to be inherited by the Indians, including the dead, for an eternal existence free from suffering."

"To earn this new reality, however, Indians had to live harmoniously and honestly, cleanse themselves often, and shun the ways of the whites, especially alcohol, the destroyer. Wovoka also discouraged the practice of mourning, because the dead would soon be resurrected, demanding instead the performance of prayers, meditation, chanting, and especially dancing through which one might briefly die and catch a glimpse of the paradise-to-come, replete with lush green prairie grass, large buffalo herds and Indian ancestors. Kicking Bear, a Miniconjou Teton Lakota, made a pilgrimage to Nevada to learn about this new religion."

"Together with Short Bull, another Miniconjou mystic, they gave another interpretation, choosing to disregard Wovoka's anti-violence and emphasizing the possible elimination of the whites. Special Ghost Dance Shirts, they claimed, would protect them against the white man's bullets."

Unfortunately for the Lakota Tribes people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the shirts didn't protect them from the US Army's bullets and cannon fire. They were slaughtered mercilessly and left to die on the field, as a snowstorm moved in and it would be two days before other tribes people and milittary personnel returned to the area to look for survivors and bury the dead. For many, it was too late; for the Native American people, it was the ultimate end of an era!