The hypothesis guiding my analysis of the movements may now be developed.

Background to hypothesis

My hypothesis is derived from two basic sources: (1) studies of depopulation and social movements and (2) the objective of the Ghost Dances themselves.

Depopulation

Several scholars have linked the Ghost Dance movements with the depopulation of American Indians. Brown (1976:742) noted that population loss probably explained differential acceptance of the 1890 dance but did not pursue the conclusion. Mooney (1896:826) described conditions among the Sioux prior to their involvement in the 1890 Ghost Dance, specifically, “epidemics of measles, grippe, and whooping cough, in rapid succession and with terribly fatal results,” immediately before the Sioux joined in the Ghost Dance movement. Barber (1941:664, 666) also mentioned population losses as an important antecedent to the acceptance of the Ghost Dance by the Sioux in 1890.

Nash (1955 [1937]:418) and Dobyns and Euler (1967:38), respectively, asserted the connection of population decline to acceptance of the 1870 dance by tribes on the Klamath Reservation and of the 1890 Ghost Dance by the Pai. In discussing the 1870 movement among the Paiute of the Walker River Reservation in Nevada, Hittman (1973:260) stated, “Two years of epidemics which led to the death of approximately one-tenth of the Walker River Reservation Paiute population doubtless caused great stress, if not actual crises. … In this context, then, [the prophet] Wodziwob prophesied the resurrection of the dead, and the Walker River Reservation Paiute responded enthusiastically.”