Wounded Knee Massacre - Popular Culture

Popular Culture

The phrase, "Bury my heart at Wounded Knee" comes from the 1931 poem "American Names" by Stephen Vincent Benet. The poem is about Benet's love of American place names and makes no reference to the battle. However, when the line was used as the title of a 1970 book — Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by historian Dee Brown — it became popularly attached to the incident. Brown's book raised awareness of the battle and became a best seller.

Its title (Benet's phrase) has since been used many times in songs and other references to the battle. Perhaps the best known is "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", written by Buffy Sainte-Marie and featured on her 1992 album Coincidence and Likely Stories.

Other artists who have written or recorded songs referring to the battle at Wounded Knee include: Nightwish ("Creek Mary's Blood" from their 2004 album "Once" featuring John Two-Hawks); Manowar ("Spirit Horse Of The Cherokee" from the 1992 album The Triumph Of Steel );Grant Lee Buffalo ("Were You There?" from the album Storm Hymnal 2001); Johnny Cash (1972's "Big Foot," which is strongly sympathetic); The Indigo Girls (a cover of Sainte-Marie's song); Charlie Parr ("1890" on his 2010 album When the Devil Goes Blind); Nik Kershaw ("Wounded Knee" on his 1989 album The Works); Southern Death Cult ("Moya"); The Waterboys ("Bury My Heart"); Uriah Heep; Primus; Patti Smith; Robbie Robertson; Five Iron Frenzy wrote the 2001 song "The Day We Killed" with mentions of Custard, Black Kettle, and quotes Black Elk's account from Black Elk Speaks on their album Five Iron Frenzy 2: Electric Boogaloo; Toad the Wet Sprocket; Marty Stuart; and Bright Eyes;Pocahontas by Neil Young.

In 1973, the American rock band Redbone, formed by Native Americans Patrick and Lolly Vasquez, released the song, "We Were All Wounded at Wounded Knee". The song ends with the subtly altered sentence, "We were all wounded by Wounded Knee." The song reached the number-one chart position across Europe. In the U.S., the song was initially withheld from release and then banned by several radio stations.

The battle is referenced in films such as Thunderheart (1992) and Hidalgo (2004). The 2005 film Into the West included scenes of the battle. In 2007, HBO Films released a film adaptation of the Dee Brown bestseller Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Petri Hiltunen's 2000 graphic novel Aavetanssi ("Ghost Dance," in Finnish) depicted the battle from a Native American point of view (as a massacre).