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What did Wodziwob teach in the Ghost Dance movement of 1870?

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Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin Kaylei Weed (left) of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe with her two sons and mother, Elaine Ethel Weed, at the Wind River Indian Reservation in 2015.

In the 1870 Ghost Dance movement, the Northern Paiute prophet Wodziwob taught that the dance would lead to the resurrection of those who had died in a recent epidemic that had devastated the region.12

His teachings were centered on a millenarian and peaceful vision, which served as an elaboration of the traditional round dance—a ceremony intended to bring about the renewal and abundance of life. Generally, the movement led by Wodziwob announced the imminent return of the dead, the restoration of traditional Native American lands and food supplies, and the ousting of white settlers. Participants believed these outcomes would be hastened through the performance of specific dances and songs revealed to prophets during visionary experiences, as well as through the strict observance of a moral code that forbade war against both Native Americans and whites.21