Sources

The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890

Citation Formats

General Reference

Divinity Atlas. "The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/the-ghost-dance-religion-and-the-sioux-outbreak-of-1890.

APA Style

Divinity Atlas. (n.d.). The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/the-ghost-dance-religion-and-the-sioux-outbreak-of-1890

BibTeX

@misc{divinityatlas-the-ghost-dance-religion-and-the-sioux-o,
  author = {Divinity Atlas},
  title = {The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-divinity.interactiveatlas.org/sources/the-ghost-dance-religion-and-the-sioux-outbreak-of-1890},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

James Mooney's The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890, published in the Bureau of American Ethnology's Fourteenth Annual Report in 1896, is the fullest contemporary record of the Ghost Dance, gathered by a field ethnographer who interviewed Wovoka directly and collected songs and testimony across many nations within a few years of the events. Its strength is that it remains the standard reference for the movement and for the sequence of events leading to Wounded Knee. Its limit is that it is also a document of its own moment, whose framing of Native American religion reflects late nineteenth century assumptions that later scholarship, and Native scholarship in particular, has since corrected, so a claim about how the Ghost Dance is understood today needs a more recent source alongside it.

Facts

Assessment

Reliability Tier

Published in the Bureau of American Ethnology's Fourteenth Annual Report in 1896, a fuller field ethnographer's contemporary record but one whose framing of Native American religion reflects assumptions later scholarship has revised, hence the middle tier.

Notes

The fullest contemporary record of the Ghost Dance, gathered by a Bureau of American Ethnology field worker who interviewed Wovoka and collected songs and testimony across many nations within a few years of the events. It remains the standard reference for the dance and for the sequence leading to Wounded Knee, and it is also a document of its own moment: its framing of Native religion reflects late nineteenth century assumptions that later scholarship, and Native scholarship in particular, has corrected.

Citation

Author

James Mooney

Publisher

Bureau of American Ethnology, Fourteenth Annual Report, Part 2

Publication Year

1896

Source Type

Ethnography

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Wovoka

This source names Wovoka directly: "a field ethnographer who interviewed Wovoka directly and collected songs and testimony across many nations within a few years of the events."

Source The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890James Mooney

Claims Backed By This Source (54 claims)

This source backs 54 claims across the atlas. As facts: 33 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 10 holds, 2 connected. Plus 8 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.

Disposition By Topic

Articles, 19 claims: 14 well-attested, 2 connected, 3 general references.
Historical Figures, 10 claims: 6 well-attested, 1 scholarly debate, 2 holds, 1 general references.
Sacred Dances, 8 claims: 3 well-attested, 4 holds, 1 general references.
Sources, 8 claims: 7 well-attested, 1 holds.
Culture Groups, 7 claims: 3 well-attested, 3 holds, 1 general references.
Cultures, 1 claims: 1 general references.
States & Territories, 1 claims: 1 general references.