Black Elk SpeaksBlack Elk Speaks is a novel based on Black Elk's memories that he shared with the poet John Neihardt. Black Elk was an Oglala Sioux religious leader who became a medicine man when he had a vision as a teenager. Black Elk was already Catholic when he met Neihardt and was a catechist on the reservations. He told Neihardt his life story so that it would be eternal and future generations would have the opportunity to learn about the history of the Sioux. The novel gives us a good idea of ​​the traditions, beliefs and lifestyle of the Lakota Indians as well as the difficulties they faced when they had to defend their lands from the Wasichus, as they called the white men. And what's more, the story details the struggles between Lakota and Wasichu over land. The reason the white men wanted to occupy Lakota lands was because they had found gold there. The Indians called gold the yellow metal and considered it inapplicable to anything. According to the novel there was the archenemy of the Lakota who they called Pahuska. His name was actually George Armstrong Custer. He and his army fought the Lakota Indians and were defeated by them after devastating battles. Black Elk remembers being a boy and remembers how he began to have visions. At first they were strange and he couldn't understand them. But as he recounts in his memories, many members of his tribe had visions about various things, and their visions helped them realize reality, heal other people, and even make them strong and invulnerable in battle. For example, his cousin and the Lakota chief Crazy Horse gained vision and was given power and as a result he became a chief. He got the name Crazy Horse because in his vision his horse danced in a strange way. His ability was to inspire the people who would fight and also to be invincible in battles. He had never been wounded in any battle. Hard times for the Lakota Indians began when Pahuska led his people to the sacred land of the Oglala Sioux called the Black Hills to capture it and mine gold there. The Indians were ready to protect their lands and fight the soldiers. The Indians knew they had to stick together and protect themselves.