Sherman Alexei is a poet, writer and performer. He is the author of the book we are reading in class, Flight. I was in a group with Jack Baker, Jake Serrie, Dan Kulas, Stefan Granados, and Hanvit. Sherman was born 1966 on the Spokane Indian reservation. He attended school outside the reservation where he was the only Indian. He currently live in Seattle with his wife and two sons. Our group also learned about the Ghost Dance and the Sand Creek Massacre.
A Ghost Dance is an important ritual in the messianic religion that many native American groups used to summon spirits to help them with cultural revival. Two other ways to describe it is , as a plea for supernatural intervention in their lives by people whose culture has been destroyed, or as an effort by a minority to regain power and dignity that will give them a sense of meaning and stability to their lives. Jack Wilson or Wovoka was the prophet that had a vision from god. In That vision god told him the earth would die and come back alive; all the white people would die; and all Native Americans dead or alive would be reunited free of death, diseases, and suffering. For the prophecy to come true Native Americans would have to follow Wovoka's Doctrine of pacifism and take part in the sacred dance Wovoka taught them. Wovoka went from a prophet to the messiah and the religion he created spread to multiple other tribes. Wovoka's prophecy never happened and tribes that followed his religion were forced onto reservations.
Sources
Alexie, Sherman. "Fiction and Poetry Award Winner: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian." Horn Book Magazine [Plain City] Jan. 2009: 25-28.
Print.
McLoughlin, William G. "Ghost Dance Movements: Some Thoughts on Definition Based on Cherokee History." Ethnohistory 37.1: 25. Print.
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