Wovoka

Description

A note about the artwork from the artist – Jaxon Northon. “Wovoka, also known as Jack Wilson, was the Paiute religious leader who founded a second episode of the Ghost Dance movement. He was born in the Smith Valley area southeast of Carson City, Nevada, around 1856 with the birth name Quoitze Ow. Wovoka claimed to have had a prophetic vision during the solar eclipse of January 1, 1889. The vision entailed the resurrection of the Paiute dead and the removal of whites and their works from North America. Wovoka taught that to bring this vision to pass, the Native Americans must live righteously and perform a traditional round dance, known as the Ghost Dance. Interpretations of Wovoka’s teachings spread through tribes across the country, and ultimately led to the US government fearing a rebellion of Native Americans. This fear led to the massacre of an estimated 300 Lakota men, women, and children at Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota. One of the worst blights in America’s history. Wovoka died in Yerington on September 20, 1932, and is buried in the Paiute cemetery in Schurz, Nevada. Wovoka has always been portrayed as a polarizing ‘messiah’ figure in history but ultimately he was fighting for his peoples’ civil rights and beliefs. The only violence that erupted from this desperate attempt to hold onto his people’s way of life was solely from the US government’s side. Wounded Knee was one of the last crushing blows of a continent-wide genocide.”