The Northern Paiute medicine man Wovoka healed people and brought rain to parched lands. People listened to his prediction that 1891 would bring big changes.
If the tribes listened to God and danced the Ghost Dance, Indians would gain new power, whites would disappear and the old ways would flourish again.
The message made whites nervous. It got out of hand in December 1890 when soldiers tried to disarm Lakota who practiced the Dance at Wounded Knee Creek. The army opened fire—between 150 and 300 Indians were killed.
Wovoka’s prophecies failed to come true several months later.
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