John G. Neihardt

John G. Neihardt was born in Sharpsburg, Illinois on January 8, 1881 and grew up in Kansas and Nebraska. He enrolled in the Nebraska Normal College in Wayne, Nebraska in 1893, where he supported himself by working as a bell-ringer, ringing a bell to notify teachers and students when it was time to change classes. His first published work was the Divine Enchantment (1900), a long poem which expanded on his Protestant upbringing to explore a more universal take on spiritual experience. As a young man, Neihardt worked for an Indian trader in Bancroft, Nebraska, a town outside the Omaha Reservation, which spurned his fascination with American Indian culture. He became acquainted with many Omaha Indians during this time and wrote several short stories inspired by these friendships, publishing them in magazines like Overland, Outing, and the American. In 1908, Neihardt married Mona Martinsen, a sculptor who studied with Rodin in Paris, and they had three children together: Enid, Hilda, and Sigurd. In 1921, Neihardt was named Poet Laureate of Nebraska. One of Neihardt’s most well-known works is A Cycle of the West (1949), a book of five epic poems written over 30 years that traces the history of western settlement and the displacement of American Indians. He worked as an editor and critic for the Minneapolis Journal, the Kansas City Journal-Post, The New York Times, and the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch. Neihardt’s relationship with Black Elk began in 1930, when he wanted to speak with a holy man who had firsthand experience with the Ghost Dance movement in order to complete Song of the Messiah (1935), the final installment of A Cycle of the West. Black Elk and Neihardt engaged in a series of conversations about Black Elk’s life and involvement in the movement, and they developed a deep, meaningful connection. Black Elk Speaks, which is derived from these conversations, was published in 1932. Over the course of his career, Neihardt taught at the University of Nebraska and the University of Missouri. He died in 1973 at the age of 92.