Two Native American Classics: Black Elk Speaks & Fools Crow

March 18 – April 8, 2023
$300/person

Join Clay Jenkinson via Zoom as we walk through these two Native American classics central to understanding American Indian culture at the intersection of the two civilizations in the nineteenth century. They can both be seen as texts of resistance, but they are also both surpassingly beautiful.

Black Elk Speaks is a collaborative effort of a Lakota visionary Black Elk and an outstanding white historian, John Neihardt. After spending several years listening to Black Elk tell the story of his life and his amazing vision, Neihardt shaped the interviews into Black Elk Speaks. Published in 1932, Black Elk Speaks is one of the most influential books in Native American literature. Recently, Neihardt has been criticized for romanticizing Black Elk's story, but none of that criticism has seriously shaken its status as a magnificent exploration of Lakota spirituality and history.

The Native American writer James Welch published a series of "Indian novels" in the second half of the twentieth century. Fools Crow (1986) is the story of a Piegan Blackfoot raid that goes wrong, but its greatness lies in the ways in which Welch explored the cultural intersection of the Blackfoot, who had lived along the Rocky Mountain front for hundreds of years, and the white newcomers who suddenly appeared in the nineteenth century.

As Shakespeare says, "hark what discord followed."

Class Schedule

Class sessions will be held via Zoom on Saturday mornings for four weeks, March 18 – April 8, 2023 at 11 am Eastern / 8 am Pacific time. Optional Zoom office hours Wednesday evenings.

What We’ll Be Reading

Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt

Fools Crow by James Welch

How to Get Started

Order the books either on your reading device or through your local book seller. Start reading. Take notes. Make lists of your questions and thoughts so that we can make our sessions rich in discussion.

Clay will provide some questions and discussion prompts and may pre-select passages to discuss.

Online courses are conducted by Dakota Sky Education with fees paid to Dakota Sky Education. The courses are an educational service, enrollment fees are not tax deductible.