Richard Moves Camp’s My Grandfather’s Altar is an oral-literary narrative account of five generations of Lakota religious tradition. Moves Camp is the great-great-grandson of Wóptuȟ’a (“Chips”), the holy man remembered for providing Crazy Horse with war medicines of power and protection. The Lakota remember the descendants of Wóptuȟ’a for their roles in preserving Lakota ceremonial traditions during the official prohibition period (1883–1934), when the U.S. Indian Religious Crimes Code outlawed Indian religious ceremonies with the threat of imprisonment.

Wóptuȟ’a, his two sons, James Moves Camp and Charles Horn Chips, his grandson Sam Moves Camp, and his great-great-grandson Richard Moves Camp all became well-respected Lakota spiritual leaders. My Grandfather’s Altar offers the rare opportunity to learn firsthand how one family’s descendants played a pivotal role in revitalizing Lakota religion in the twentieth century.
 

About the author: Richard Moves Camp (Oglala Lakota) is a fifth-generation Lakota healer, tribal historian, and spiritual leader. He teaches at Sinte Gleska University and lectures on Lakota history, culture, and traditions. In 2021 he was named a Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow. Simon J. Joseph is a lecturer in early Christianity at the University of California–Los Angeles. He is the author of five books, including A Social History of Christian Origins: The Rejected Jesus and Jesus, the Essenes, and Christian Origins: New Light on Ancient Texts and Communities.

Bookstore Review: My Grandfather's Altar by Richard Moves Camp

"I really like books that answer questions for me and My Grandfather’s Altar cleared up several of mine. My problems has always been, how do I put in words what I received from reading this book? Everyone should read My Grandfather’s Altar whether Lakota, Dakota, Nakota or any other Nation including non-Natives."

"Richard Moves Camp explains the wrong and the right, the good and the bad. Mr. Moves Camp speaks plainly and simply in a way that makes it easier for us to understand as we’re reading. He talks about how much was lost when ceremonies had to go underground and how colonialism has creeped into our ceremonies. He also tells us it is important to stay in touch with the Spirit People. Spirit People are not human but they are beings that work for the same God/Creator we pray to."

"Mr. Moves Camp speaks on the ceremonies, prayer, family language, culture, the young, the old and of love."

~Anita Comeau - Bookstore Manager, Standing Rock Sioux Nation