What was the ghost dance and what role did it play?

Answer 1

The Ghost Dance was a religious movement practiced by some North American Indians at the end of the 19th Century, advocated by the Indian prphet Jack Wilson (known as Wovoka by his followers).

According to his teachings, proper practice of the dance would serve to unite the living with the spirits of the dead and bring about peace, prosperity and and end to white American colonisation. He advocated clean living, an honest life and ross-cultural co-operation amongst native Americans.

The basis of the Dance was the Circle Dance, which had been practiced by many Indian tribes since Prehistoric times, but it's modern form was first seen amongst the Nevada Paiute peoples in 1889 and swept much of the Western USA, including California and Oklahoma. Various American tribes incorporated variations of The Ghost Dance into their own belief systems, and it is believed to have contributed to resistance against white rule by the Lakota Indians, which culminated in the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890, when US forces massacred 153 Lakota Sioux. The Sioux interpretation of The Ghost Dance tended towards milleniaranism, which distinguished it from Jack Wilson's origional teachings. The Caddo Nation still practice The Ghost Dance today.

Wilson died in 1932 at the age of 76.