Published in 1932, Black Elk Speaks was the astonishing result of a strange meeting of minds, cultures, and civilizations. The book is both a spiritual autobiography and an intensely grounded and historical one, both individual and collective, of Black Elk’s life from boyhood to maturity (it ends when he is twenty-seven, at Wounded Knee) and—allegedly—a uniquely authentic account of Lakota history, spiritual, and society. The truth, time has showed, is more complicated. As the book gained popularity among both Native and white readers, it attracted increased scrutiny. Today, controversy over its authenticity persists, yet it remains by far the most popular and arguably influential book “written” by a Native author in America. And in most places outside of Nebraska—where Neihardt was the state’s “poet laureate in perpetuity” from 1921 till his death in 1973—it is also the sole book by which Neihardt is known.
This is ironic, of course. Neihardt was initially indicated to be acting as interpreter and scribe in this major work of “Indian autobiography:” the original edition of Black Elk Speaks described the story as “told to John G. Neihardt.” In later editions, however, Neihardt amended that front page to “written through John G. Neihardt”—with good reason, and with more honesty. The book is a collaboration, in ways both powerful and troubling.
There was no apparent reason for Black Elk to trust Neihardt, a white poet, with any knowledge of his personal history, nor that of his people or their culture. Yet, in May, 1931, about nine months after that initial meeting, Neihardt and two daughters returned to where Black Elk had set up a sacred tepee for them to stay in. Over roughly the next fortnight, Black Elk (and other Lakota elders, including his friend Standing Bear) would speak through his son, Ben, who translated the Lakota words into English for Neihardt; stenographic notes were taken by Neihardt’s daughter Enid.
As Neihardt repeated in the various prefaces he wrote to the book over the years, there was an immediate understanding between the two men, and Black Elk was compelled to share things he had never discussed with anyone.
“You have been sent so that I may teach you and you receive what I know,” Black Elk reportedly said. “It was given to me for men, and it is true, and it is beautiful, and soon I will be under the grass.”
