Black Elk, Mexican Joe & Buffalo Bill by Tom Cunningham

[Dietmar]

For those interested in the Oglala holy man Black Elk and in the history of the Buffalo Bill Show Indians, there is a relativlely new book by Tom F. Cunningham, published by the Westerners Publications Ltd.
The link is here:

www.snbba.co.uk/blackelk_f.html






Black Elk



Mexican Joe

[tomfc]

Thanks for the link Dietmar!

Full details are to be found via the link which Dietmar provided but for now I'd like to offer the further comments.

If it had not been for John G. Neidhardt's "Black Elk Speaks", Black Elk's story about how he and some companions were accidentally left behind in Salford, England, at the end of the 1887-88 tour would probably not have been preserved.

However, there are some significant problems and "due diligence" on this story is long overdue. Some cracks opened up with the publication of the original interview transcripts in the form of "The Sixth Grandfather" ed. DeMallie. Black Elk emerges as a far more prosaic figure than he is depicted as in BES. A lot of the famous quotes which have been attributed to Black Elk appear in fact to have been made up by Neihardt, who was a poet rather than a serious historian. In particular, regarding the story of how Black Elk came to be stranded, TSG directly contradicts BES in a number of important respects.

A lot of background information emerges from contemporary sources, such as newspaper reports. That something like the misadventure described by Black Elk actually happened is beyond doubt. I also believe that Black Elk told his story honestly, accurately and reliably but was misunderstood. A lot went wrong in the translation process and serious confusion arose over geography.

A lot of details are confirmed, others are cast into doubt or even refuted. I have reconstructed a relatively clear picture of Mexican Joe's movements around this time and it emerges that although he most probably DID meet Black Elk and the others in London in May 1888 and went to Paris the following month, a lot of the other statements are just plain wrong.

Mexican Joe was back in England by October 1888 and did not return to the Continent. Black Elk, having been left behind a second time, crossed the Channel in the spring of 1889 to meet up again with Cody. Black Elk's Parisian girlfriend is a myth - this lady probably lived in or near to Manchester, somewhere in England certainly. Black Elk spent a number of weeks with Mexican Joe in Brussels, Belgium, but was never in Germany or Italy, as both canonical sources incorrectly state. I am almost certain of that.