The wife and I had the privilege of traveling through a fair portion of South Dakota in Fall of 2021 and again in Fall of 2022. In our 2021 excursion, our objective was Glacier National Park (which was beyond amazing) but I also had ambitions to visit The Badlands and the Pine Ridge Reservation.
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Years ago, I read Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt which sparked an interest in the historical accounts of the Oceti Ŝakowiŋ that has remained with me since. The book recounts the life of Heȟáka Sápa (Black Elk) an Oglala wičháša wakȟáŋ (holy man or medicine man). HIs life spanned from a time when the people of his nation enjoyed some level of autonomy all the way to the treaty days and the reservations that sprung out of U.S. policy.
I’m drawn to the accounts of his hanblečeya and the effects it had on his abilities to help his friends and relatives. It was an account of holiness very unfamiliar to me yet one that I think still connects with and represents a spiritual need that moves like an undercurrent through all people. He was but one wičháša wakȟáŋ of many throughout history and there were other contemporary wičháša wakȟáŋ such as John Fire Lame Deer, his son, Archie, and Leonard Crow Dog (who just passed in 2021) as well as many others but his life, I think, was unique in that it bridged the old and the new world, so to speak.
I only knew the accounts of these holy men from books and I was hopeful to see the area they were from. Since Heȟáka Sápa spent much of his life in the area now called Pine Ridge, it garnered the most appeal. I also felt it was important to visit the Wounded Knee massacre site because of the event that occurred there in 1890 and the significance relevant to what transpired with AIM in 1973.
Contemporary Pine Ridge, SD, unfortunately, is often associated with poverty which is certainly a significant issue, but, I don’t think that should discourage anyone from visiting as there is a lot that’s offered.
We only could spend an afternoon there and stopped to visit Wounded Knee on our way into town. There was a gentleman selling some items in the lot and someone else who it turned out was having car trouble but otherwise it was just my wife and myself as we made the walk to the top of the hill. Words fall short.
We headed into town and stopped at The Red Cloud Indian School which has a great museum and offers tours of the grounds and the graveyard were Maȟpíya Lúta is buried. Their social media and marketing coordinator showed us around and it was very informative. Higher Ground Coffee Shop is great also. On the way out of town, we stopped at Big Bat’s to get some snacks and drinks for the road which, for some reason, felt obligatory and headed south through White Clay.
The few hours we were there was definitely not enough and I would like to return and spend some more time there some day.