OPVL

Origin:

· This document is a speech so it is a primary source
· Wovoka aka Jack Wilson read this orally to the tribe (Cheyenne)
· Black Short Nose (member of tribe) copied what he said
· Created August 1891
· The speech was re-edited to clear up translation confusion
- We Know
· Wovoka was a strong believer in “The Promise of the Ghost Dance”
· He is a spiritual individual
· He was apart/partnered with Cheyenne tribe

Purpose:

· This document exists to show us the Ghost Dance religion
· The author was trying to influence the Cheyenne tribe to follow this so they could win in battles
· The author chose a speech because he wanted to get this out to a lot of people
· The intended audience is the Cheyenne tribe’s people
· The document tells what the religion will require and what people are expected to do

Value:

· We know that the author strongly believes in this religion and that it will definitely help the tribe in battle if they follow the rules
· We can tell that during this time period, spirituality was a large part in the lives of Native Americans
· The piece was created in order to help the people of the Cheyenne tribe and it reflects this by showing that in return it will help them in battle
· The author represents the side of the religion considering he is so strongly for it
· We can obviously tell he believes in what he is saying
· When the piece was created there were many wars against Native Americans and this piece was offering advice on how the Natives could win these wars

Limitation:

· This document does not tell us if the religion is proven to work
· We could verify this by seeing the results of the war on the Cheyenne people and seeing what happened in result to following the Ghost Dance religion
· The author probably purposely leaves out previous victories from using the religion because there might not have been
· He also doesn’t tell if any other tribes followed the religion