Synopses & Reviews
This biography of Black Elk is based on extensive interviews with Lucy Looks Twice, the holy manand#8217;s last surviving child, as well as others who knew him personally. Michael F. Steltenkamp sheds new light on the figure portrayed in Black Elk Speaks as a victim of Western subjugation, doomed to live out his life as a relic of the past. Instead, Steltenkamp reveals that in 1904 Black Elk was baptized a Catholic and subsequently served as a devoted catechist and missionary to his fellow American Indians until his death in 1950.
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Synopsis
Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award, Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
This biography of Black Elk is based on extensive interviews with Lucy Looks Twice, the holy man's last surviving child, as well as others who knew him personally. Michael F. Steltenkamp sheds new light on the figure portrayed in Black Elk Speaks as a victim of Western subjugation, doomed to live out his life as a relic of the past. Instead, Steltenkamp reveals that in 1904 Black Elk was baptized a Catholic and subsequently served as a devoted catechist and missionary to his fellow American Indians until his death in 1950.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-205) and index.
About the Author
Jesuit Father Michael F. Steltenkamp is Professor of Religious Studies at Wheeling Jesuit University, Wheeling, West Virginia. He is the author of Black Elk: Holy Man of the Oglala and The Sacred Vision: Native American Religion and Its Practice Today. Ordained a deacon on the pow-wow grounds of Manderson (Black Elk's reservation town), Steltenkamp was ordained a priest in Chicago. His first assignment was as pastor of an Indian parish in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. After acquiring a Ph.D. in Anthropology at Michigan State University, he taught at Bay Mills Community College, an Indian college on the Bay Mills Reservation.