Mississippi River Valley

Mississippi Mound Builders

Picture of Mississippi Mound Builders

Mississippi Mound Builders were not limited to just the Mississippi River Valley. Ancient civilizations built mounds in a large area from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains, but the greatest concentrations of mounds are found in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. These included societies in the Archaic, and Woodland period, and Mississippian period. These Pre-Columbian mounds have been dated from roughly 3000 BCE to the 1500s, and most…

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Symbolism of Black Elk’s Vision

At the age of nine, Nicholas Black Elk, a holy man of the Oglala Sioux, had a great vision. This vision was the primary subject of his interview with writer John Neihardt and Neihardt's subsequent 1932 novel, Black Elk Speaks. As the title suggests, Neihardt's novel is the medium through which Black Elk shares his life narrative. Through the novel, in addition to the recounting of his great vision and other significant events in his personal history, Black Elk voices significant events and figures in Sioux history. 

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