Historedia
Episode 1 of 3

Founding of the Ghost Dance

When
1889
Where
Walker River Indian Reservation
Part of
Wovoka's vision and the start of the Ghost Dance movement

Wovoka founded the Ghost Dance movement in Nevada in 1889, teaching that righteous living and dance would bring peace and prosperity.

The Ghost Dance was first practiced by the Nevada Northern Paiute in 1889. Wovoka taught that proper practice would reunite the living with spirits of the dead, end Westward expansion, and bring peace to Native American peoples.

Sources

  1. Ghost Dance Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-07
  2. Walker River Indian Reservation Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-25

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.