Governors Proclamation
Proclamation
WHEREAS,
The Nebraska Center for the Book, Nebraska Library Commission, Humanities
Nebraska, Neihardt Foundation, University of Nebraska Press, and other
organizations across the state are urging all citizens of Nebraska to
participate in the One Book One Nebraska Reads “Black Elk Speaks” initiative during the year 2017; and
WHEREAS,
Nebraska author John G. Neihardt was named Nebraska’s first Poet Laureate in
1921 by the Nebraska legislature, wrote more than twenty-five books, served as
a professor of poetry at the University of Nebraska, worked as a literary
editor, and was inducted posthumously into the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 1974;
and
WHEREAS,
In 1930 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Nicholas Black Elk met
the distinguished Nebraska poet, writer, and critic John G. Neihardt and he asked
Neihardt to share his story with the world; and
WHEREAS,
“Black
Elk Speaks” is the story of the Oglala Lakota visionary and healer Nicholas
Black Elk (1863–1950) and his people, offering a precious glimpse of a vanished
time and Black Elk’s searing visions of the unity of humanity and Earth; and
WHEREAS,
Reading “Black
Elk Speaks” in communities across Nebraska in 2017 (our Sesquicentennial year
of statehood) provides common ground for Nebraska citizens of all ages to share
their common experiences, reflect on the past, and contemplate the
future—connecting Nebraskans across time and place.
NOW,
THEREFORE, I, Pete
Ricketts, Governor for the State of Nebraska,
DO HEREBY PROCLAIM the year of 2017, as
ONE BOOK ONE NEBRASKA:
“BLACK ELK SPEAKS”
in Nebraska, and I do
hereby urge all citizens to:
·Read “Black
Elk Speaks;”
·Engage in discussion of “Black Elk Speaks;” and
