Black Elk is best known for his interviews with poet John Neihardt, where he discussed his religious views, visions, and events from his life.

Near the end of his life, he also spoke to American ethnologist Joseph Epes Brown for his 1947 book The Sacred Pipe.

[2] His grandson, George Looks Twice said, "He was comfortable praying with this pipe and his rosary, and participated in Mass and Lakota ceremonies on a regular basis".

Black Elk was born into an Oglala Lakota family in December 1863 along the Little Powder River (at a site thought to be in the present-day state of Wyoming).

During this time he said he had a great vision in which he was visited by the Thunder Beings (Wakinyan) "... spirits were represented as kind and loving, full of years and wisdom, like revered human grandfathers.

[6] Campbell viewed Black Elk's statement as one key to understanding worldwide religious myth and symbols in general.

[4]: intro., 97 Black Elk was present at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and described his experience to John Neihardt: There was a soldier on the ground and he was still kicking.

During his sojourn in Europe, Black Elk was given an "abundant opportunity to study the white man's way of life," and he learned to speak rudimentary English.

[12] Black Elk was present at the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890, which occurred due to fear by US settlers of the large interest in the Ghost Dance by Plains tribes.

While on horseback, he said he charged soldiers and helped to rescue some of the wounded, arriving after many of Spotted Elk's (Big Foot's) band of people had been shot.

[13] Lakota leader Red Cloud convinced him to stop fighting after being wounded, and he remained on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where he could convert to Catholicism.

[14] For at least a decade, beginning in 1934, Black Elk returned to work related to his performances earlier in life with Buffalo Bill.

He organized an Indian show to be held at the Sitting Bull Crystal Cavern Dance Pavilion in the sacred Black Hills.

[citation needed] His son, Benjamin Black Elk (1899–1973), became known as the "Fifth Face of Mount Rushmore", posing in the 1950s and 1960s for tourists at the memorial.

Within the American Indian Movement, especially among non-Natives and urban descendants who had not been raised in a traditional culture, Black Elk Speaks was a popular book among those newly seeking religious and spiritual inspiration.

However, critics have stated that John Neihardt, as the author and editor, may have exaggerated, altered, or invented some of the content either to make it more marketable to the intended white audience of the 1930s, or because he did not fully understand the Lakota culture.

[22][23][7] On October 21, 2017, the cause for canonization for Nicholas Black Elk was formally opened by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rapid City, South Dakota, paving the way for the possibility of him eventually being recognized as a saint.

[25] His work to share the Gospel with Native and non-Native people and harmonize the faith with Lakota culture were noted at the Mass where this was announced.

[26] Damian Costello writes that Black Elk's Lakota Catholic faith was uniquely anti-colonial, stemming from his Ghost Dance vision.

[28] In 2020, a documentary produced by the Diocese of Rapid City, Walking the Good Red Road – Nicholas Black Elk's Journey to Sainthood, aired on ABC television affiliates.