The History of the Ghost Dance

Jack Wilson claimed to have left the presence of God convinced that if every Indian in the west danced the new dance, all evil in the world were to be swept away. He said he stood before God in heaven and had seen many of his ancestors engage in their favorite pastimes. Jack claims that he was then told to return home and preach God's message. Other Native American peoples were curious about the ghost dance and the message of hope that it offered. One tribe after another took up the dance. Quickly accepted by his Peyote brethren, the new religion was termed Dance in a Circle. Because the first European contact with the practice came by way of the Lakota, their expression,