About the Artists

Nellie Two Bulls, Oglala Lakota
from Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota

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Nellie Two Bulls is a special person and is well loved by all that know her. She lives on the Pine Ridge Reservation just a few miles out of Pine Ridge Village. Her ancestors were among those who survived the massacre at Wounded Knee when over 300 Lakota men, women and children were killed by the Seventh Cavalry. In spite of this painful history, Nellie has a light attitude and a love for all.

Nellie has generously shared her voice and her music with thousands, opening many ceremonies, singing at pow wows with the Eagle Nest Singers, and singing with her husband, Matt Two Bulls, who recently passed on. She is involved with the return of artifacts, sacred and funereal items taken during the long years of fighting and the Wounded Knee Massacre. Though the general population may still know them as the “Great Sioux Nation,” most of the people themselves prefer to be called Lakota, Nakota or Dakota, depending on their ancestry.

One interpretation is that the word “Sioux” was thought to mean, “little snake” in French and Ojibwe. Originally this large tribal family called themselves the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires, which was made up of seven bands split into the three groups named above. The Lakota were one division of the Seven Council Fires, but within their own group were also seven bands.

These large and far ranging tribes made up a strong and powerful nation. They relied upon one another, shared knowledge, and came together annually to exchange resources. The western Sioux, or Lakota, were great buffalo hunters but suffered greatly by the loss of massive herds of buffalo to the mighty guns of the traders.