Black Elk and Flaming Rainbow: Personal Memories of the Lakota Holy Man and John Neihardt
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In 1931 John Neihardt traveled to Pine Ridge Reservatio...)
In 1931 John Neihardt traveled to Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to interview Lakota elders who had witnessed the Ghost Dance and the Wounded Knee Massacre. He met Black Elk, and their two weeks of intense talks became Black Elk Speaks, one of the most important biographies of an American Indian ever published. Accompanying John Neihardt to help him observe and to take notes were his two daughters, Enid and Hilda.
For the first time Hilda Neihardt presents her memories of those interviews. She celebrates the days and nights of storytelling, camping, feasting, and horseback riding with the fresh eyes of a bright fourteen year old. The volume includes never-before-published photographs and answers many questions about the collaboration between the Lakota holy man and her father, called Peta Wigamou-Gke, or Flaming Rainbow.
Hilda Neihardt, American foundation administrator, writer, educator, lawyer. Bar: Missouri 1963. Trustee John G. Neihardt Trust, Columbia and Tekamah, Nebraska, 1973-1999; chairman board directors John G. Neihardt Foundation, 2000-2002; with United States Navy, 1944-1945. Member American Association of University Women, Westerners, International Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.).
Background
She was born in Bancroft, Nebraska, on December 6, 1916, to her writer father and sculptor mother. In 1920 her extended family moved to Branson, Missouri, in the Ozark Mountains, then to Springfield and on to Saint Louis in Missouri as her father"s work changed.
Education
Hilda Neihardt attended Southwest Missouri State Teachers" College in Springfield, Missouri, and Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Career
After graduation, she worked for the Swiss Consulate in Saint Louis, Missouri. In 1944, she left the Consulate to join the Walking Attack Vehicle Enhanced. While in the service, she sang with the Ray Charles Orchestra on the "Waves on Parade" radio program broadcast from Hunter College in New York City. At her request she transferred to Pasco, Washington, where she served as a control tower operator.
They had three children: Gail, Robin, and Coralie.
(Her son, Robin, took the Neihardt surname and used Petri as his middle name)
In 1960, she entered the University of Missouri Law School, graduating with a Juris Doctor degree in 1963. She was the first woman to practice law in central Missouri.
During her years in Columbia, Neihardt was instrumental in obtaining the land and doing the legal work for the creation of the Rock Bridge State Park in Columbia, Missouri. After retiring from her law practice, Neihardt became very active in promoting her father"s works.
She wrote The End of the Dream and other Stories" and The Giving Earth as compilations that are representative of all Neihardt"s writings.
She authored "Black Elk Speaks and Flaming Rainbow" her personal memoirs of Black Elk and John Neihardt, and edited Black Elk Lives: Conversations with the Black Elk Family with Lori Utecht. Hilda Neihardt received the first Word Sender Award from the John G. Neihardt Foundation in 1999. A special ceremony awarding her an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Wayne State College was held in Indianapolis, Indiana on July 23, 2004.
Trustee John G. Neihardt Trust, Columbia and Tekamah, Nebraska, 1973-1999. Chairman board directors John G. Neihardt Foundation, 2000-2002. With United States Navy, 1944-1945.
Member American Association of University Women, Westerners, International Philanthropic Educational Organization (P.E.O.).
Interests
Avocations: boating, camping, horses.
Connections
Married Albert Joseph Petri, April 18, 1942 (divorced October 1963). Children; Gail Petri Toedebusch, Robin, Coralie Joyce Hughes.