This hour, we enter what feels like a hidden realm of American religious history, the spiritual

legacy of sitting bull.

He was a leader, medicine man, and son dancer of the Lakota, a vast linguistic group within

the Sue nation that resided across the northern plains.

After his followers were attacked and defeated general custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn,

the American government in press followed sitting bull as public enemy number one.

And for many of his people, sitting bull's resistance to federal appropriation of sacred

lands reflected humility towards the land and compassion towards his people.

His death in December 1890 is remembered as his ultimate moment of sacrifice.

We'll explore sitting bull's spiritual legacy as a force for identity and healing among

the living.

Reimagining sitting bull, Tatanka Iotake.

I'm Chris Titipit, this is on being from APM American Public Media.

Tatanka Iotake was born in or around the year 1831.

This his great grandson, Ernie Lapointe, has written, is when the bad bow band of the Hunk

Papa tribe of the Tia Tonua Lakota nation was cammed on the banks of the Elk River,

known as the Yellowstone River in Montana.

Tia Tonua means looking for a home site, the whites mispronounced their name and called

them Titon.

From its very beginning, it seems the story of sitting bull, like the whole drama of

the American frontier, is in fact many competing stories.

There was ultimately to be sure, violence all around.

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