The Ghost Shirt

{{short description|Amulet shirt used by a Sioux warrior in the Wounded Knee Massacre}}

{{about|one particular shirt|more general use of the term|Ghost shirt}}

The Ghost Shirt is a shirt that is believed to have been worn by a Sioux warrior killed in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre. The shirt is plain cotton, has raven, owl, and eagle feathers hanging from the neck, and is pierced in several places with bullet holes.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} There are slight brown stains of blood, but it cannot be confirmed that the shirt originated from the massacre.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} Ghost Dance shirts are said to be objects of power to the wearer, and sacred to American Indians. The Lakota Sioux were the only tribe to believe that the ghost shirt clothing would protect them from the bullets of the white man.[http://everything2.com/title/Ghost%2520Shirt Everything 2]{{Better source needed|date=December 2022}}

In 1891 the shirt was brought to Glasgow with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Traveling Show at Dennistoun. A year later it was given to Kelvingrove Museum by George C. Crager, a member of the show.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/217816.stm |title=Sioux set to reclaim ghost shirt|website=BBC News|date=30 November 1998|access-date=26 December 2022}}{{cite web | title=A History of the WorldObject : Ghost Dance Shirt | website=BBC | date=1 January 1970 | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/g7TsYP04QoOgJBdHRd-X7A | access-date=19 July 2023}} The shirt was displayed at the museum from 1892 until 1999.

A four-year campaign led by Marcella Le Beau, secretary of The Wounded Knee Association and great-granddaughter of one of the survivors of Wounded Knee, sought the shirt's return to the Lakota people. In November 1998 Glasgow City Council voted to return it after the city residents supported the move. In a gesture of good will, the Ghost Dance Shirt was replaced by another made in 1998 by Marcella Le Beau herself. She said, "This will bring about a sense of closure to a sad and horrible event. Now healing can begin." The Lakota leaders said that the shirt will be displayed at one of the Reservations once a new museum is built.{{cite web |url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmcumeds/371/0051808.htm|access-date=26 December 2022|orig-date=Submitted April 2000|date=16 June 2000|title=Memorandum submitted by Glasgow City Council|publisher=Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport, House of Commons|location=London, England}}{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/409876.stm |website=BBC News|title=Ghost shirt dances back|date=2 August 1999|access-date=26 December 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/sioux-to-be-given-ghost-shirt-1186048.html|website=The Independent|date=20 November 1998|title=Sioux to be given 'ghost shirt'|access-date=26 December 2022}}{{cite web |url=http://www.bluecloud.org/ghostshirt.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220145806/http://www.bluecloud.org/ghostshirt.html|archive-date=20 February 2012|title=Ghost Shirt|work=South Dakota Magazine|date=September 1999|via=Fr Stan's Notes}}{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025214918/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4466945.html|url-status=dead|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4466945.html|newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times|last=Seenan|first=Gerard|date=18 November 1998|archive-date=25 October 2012|title=Sioux want warrior shirt from museum}} After repatriation ceremonies, the shirt was stored at the Museum of the South Dakota State Historical Society.{{cite web |url=http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/americanstudies/events/specialevents/thereturnofglasgowsghostdanceshirt/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605084541/http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/americanstudies/events/specialevents/thereturnofglasgowsghostdanceshirt/|archive-date=5 June 2011|last=Maddra|first=Sam|website=Andrew Hook Centre for American Studies|publisher=University of Glasgow|title=Glasgow's Ghost Dance Shirt}} A celebration was held at Eagle Butte on August 1, 2009, to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the return of this Ghost Dance shirt.{{cite web |url=https://sdpb.sd.gov/newsite/shows.aspx?MediaID=39544&Parmtype=RADIO&ParmAccessLevel=sdpb-all|last=Kent|first=Jim|access-date=26 December 2022|date=6 August 2009|website=South Dakota Public Broadcasting|title=Anniversary of return of Ghost Dance Shirt}} In 2018, Marcella Le Beau expressed her desire for the shirt to be moved to the Cultural Center of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe at Eagle Butte.{{cite web |url=https://www.lakotatimes.com/articles/anniversary-of-return-of-ghost-dance-shirt/|access-date=26 December 2022|date=6 December 2018|website=Lakota Times|last=Kent|first=Jim|title=Anniversary of Return of Ghost Dance Shirt}}