As settlers race to claim tribal lands, Native Americans take up the Ghost Dance.

Ghost Dance The West

Premiered September 15, 1996
Ghost Dance

As settlers race to claim tribal lands, Native Americans take up the Ghost Dance, trusting in its power to restore a lost way of life until their hopes are crushed at Wounded Knee. The new century marks a new era in the West, an age of aqueducts and smelters. But the West remains what it has always been, a world waiting for a dream.

About the Program

The West

A nine-part series chronicling the turbulent history of one of the most extraordinary landscapes on earth. Beginning when the land belonged only to Native Americans and ending in the 20th century, the film introduces unforgettable characters whose competing dreams transformed the land. It was a tragic, inspiring intersection where the best of us met the worst of us—and nothing was left unchanged.

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