Black Elk Speaks
BISMARCK, ND–The University of Mary is trailblazing cultural healing by commemorating an individual whose life speaks “That…Much More”
On Friday at 10 a.m. Dr. Michael Taylor, associate professor of education, spoke at the Third Annual Black Elk Convocation & Forum held in Greg Butler Auditorium at the University of Mary to bring awareness to the life of Servant of God, Nicholas Black Elk.
Each fall, the university sets apart one week to come together to ponder what Taylor calls meaningful “stories of exceptionality, stories of discovery and colonization [and] the story of the family tree.” A perfect collision of tradition and faith.
Nicholas Black Elk with daughter Lucy, Photo Courtesy of Marquette University Archives.
Nicholas Black Elk was a Lakota Native who converted to Catholicism after learning about the faith of the black-robed Catholic Jesuit missionaries. Taylor said Black Elk’s daughter, Lucy “is a person who would say that Black Elk, her dad, was a true convert to Catholicism and never looked back at his traditional ways.”
Taylor highlighted Black Elk’s search for truth, and how this search caused tension within the Lakota peoples. Taylor said that it is critical to understand the beliefs of Black Elk’s own people when considering the impact of Black Elk’s life. “Native perceptions, Native experiences, Native American qualities, in terms of their interests in Christianity, in particular Catholicism are really key in the consideration of Black Elk as a saint…a lot of depth, a lot of complexity here,” said Taylor.
“Some people would say he is a sinner, some people would say he’s a sellout, some people would say he’s a saint, some people would say he’s an opportunist,” said Taylor. Despite the varying titles of Black Elk “among people that know [him],” Taylor argued that Black Elk is “very much…a symbol of cultural healing among people.”
Taylor concluded by inviting individuals “to just broaden out perceptions of cultures” and to look to Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk for inspiration.
