he understandings of the Ghost Dance from Native American and European American perspectives’ were quite different. European Americans saw the dance not as a peaceful effort for Native Americans to restore their old ways through a religious vision, but as a way to rebel and provoke warfare. They saw the Native Americans as savages and wanted the Ghost Dance to stop. The Ghost Dance was a millenarian movement, and Native Americans danced in hope for those who had died to return. They believed that if they danced hard enough, their ancestors would return to life on earth. European Americans assumed that Native American culture was stagnant and that the Native Americans could be transformed for the better only by the imposing of Western civilization.
