Ghost Shirts

Ghost Shirts

Ghost shirts were vests held sacred by certain factions of the Lakota Sioux that were supposed to guard against bullets through spiritual power. Contrary to popular belief, Jack Wilson (known in Lakota circles as Wovoka) opposed rebellion against the white settlers. Wovoka believed that through pacificism, the Lakota Sioux and the rest of the Native Americans would be delivered from white oppression in the form of earthquakes. However, two Lakota warriors and followers of Wovoka, Kicking Bear and Short Bull thought otherwise, and believed that Ghost Shirts would protect the wearer enough to actively resist white oppression. [ [http://www.woundedkneemuseum.org Wounded Knee Museum] ] The vests did not work as promised, and consequently 153 Lakota Sioux died, with 50 wounded and 150 missing at the Wounded Knee Massacre.

In Kurt Vonnegut's novel, "Player Piano", a faction revolting against the rigidly hierarchical, mechanized United States of the future calls itself the Ghost Shirt Society. The founders claim that, like the militant Native Americans of the late twentieth century, they are "mak [ing] one last fight for the old values." [Vonnegut, Kurt. Player Piano. 1952. New York: Dial Press, 2006.]

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