![Indian Congress on Horseback1, 1901](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/Indian_Congress_on_Horseback1%2C_1901_.jpg)
Wild Westing was the term used by Native Americans for their performing with
Buffalo Bill's Wild West
William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but he lived for several years in ...
and similar shows. Between 1887 and World War I, over 1,000 Native Americans went "Wild Westing." Most were
Oglala Lakota
The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota people, Dakota, make up the Sioux, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority ...
(''Oskate Wicasa'') from their reservation in
Pine Ridge, South Dakota
Pine Ridge (Lakota: ''wazíbló'') is a census-designated place (CDP) and the most populous community in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 3,138 at the 2020 census. It is the tribal headquarters of the Oglala ...
, the first Lakota people to perform in these shows. During a time when the
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
was intent on promoting Native assimilation, William Frederick Cody ("
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick Cody (February 26, 1846January 10, 1917), known as "Buffalo Bill", was an American soldier, Bison hunting, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa, Le Claire, Iowa Territory (now the U.S. state of Iowa), but ...
") used his influence with U.S. government officials to secure Native American performers for his Wild West. Cody treated Native American employees as equals with white cowboys.
Wild Westers received good wages, transportation, housing, abundant food, and gifts of cash and clothing at the end of each season. Wild Westing was very popular with the Lakota people and benefited their families and communities. Wild Westing offered opportunity and hope during time when people believed Native Americans were a vanishing race whose only hope for survival was rapid cultural transformation. Americans and Europeans continue to have a great interest in Native peoples and enjoy modern
Pow-wow
A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an ...
culture, traditional Native Americans skills; horse culture, ceremonial dancing and cooking; and buying Native American art, music and crafts. First begun in Wild West shows, Pow-wow culture is popular with Native Americans throughout the United States and a source of tribal enterprise. Wild Westers still perform in movies, pow-wows, pageants and rodeos. Some Oglala Lakota people carry on family show business traditions from ancestors who first worked for Cody and other Wild West shows.
Vanishing race
![Vanishing Race](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Vanishing_Race.png)
During the
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...
of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was an explosion of public interest in Native American culture and imagery. Newspapers, dime-store novels, Wild West shows, and public exhibitions portrayed Native Americans as a "vanishing race." Their numbers had decreased since the
Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...
, and survivors were struggling with poverty and constraints on
Indian reservations
An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
. American and European anthropologists, who represented a new field, historians, linguists, journalists, photographers, portraitists and early movie-makers believed they had to study western Native American peoples. Many researchers and artists lived on government reservations for extended periods to study Native Americans before they "vanished." Their inspired effort heralded the "Golden Age of the Wild West." Photographers included
Gertrude Käsebier
Gertrude Käsebier (née Stanton; May 18, 1852 – October 12, 1934) was an American photographer. She was known for her images of motherhood, her portraits of Native Americans, and her promotion of photography as a career for women.
Biography
...
,
Frank A. Rinehart,
Edward Curtis
Edward Sherriff Curtis (February 19, 1868 – October 19, 1952) was an American photographer and ethnologist whose work focused on the American West and on Native American people. Sometimes referred to as the "Shadow Catcher", Curtis traveled ...
,
Jo Mora
Joseph Jacinto Mora (October 22, 1876 – October 10, 1947) was a Uruguayan-born American cowboy, photographer, artist, cartoonist, illustrator, painter, muralist, sculptor, and historian who lived with the Hopi and wrote about his experiences in ...
and John Nicholas Choate, while portraitists included
Elbridge Ayer Burbank
Elbridge Ayer (E. A.) Burbank (August 10, 1858 – April 21, 1949) was an American artist who sketched and painted more than 1200 portraits of Native Americans from 125 tribes. He studied art in Chicago and in his 30s traveled to Munich, Germany ...
,
Charles M. Russell and
John Hauser.
Progressive Era fight for the image
![Buffalo bill wild west show c1899](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Buffalo_bill_wild_west_show_c1899.jpg)
During the Progressive Era, U.S. government policy focused upon acquiring Indian lands, restricting cultural and religious practices and sending Native American children to boarding schools. Progressives agreed that the situation was serious and that something needed to be done to educate and acculturate Native Americans to white society, but they differed as to education models and speed of assimilation. Reformist progressives, a coalition led by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the
Society of American Indians
The Society of American Indians (1911–1923) was the first national American Indian rights organization run by and for American Indians. The Society pioneered twentieth century Pan-Indianism, the movement promoting unity among American Indians ...
and Christian organizations, promoted rapid assimilation of children through off-reservation Indian boarding schools and immersion in white culture.
The Society of American Indians was opposed to Wild West shows, theatrical troupes, circuses and most motion picture firms. The Society believed that theatrical shows were demoralizing and degrading to Indians, and discouraged Indians from "Wild Westing."
Chauncey Yellow Robe
Chief Chauncey Yellow Robe (born Canowikacte Yellow Robe, 1867) was a Brulé, Sičhą́ǧú (Lakota people, Rosebud Sioux) educator, lecturer, actor, and Native American civil rights, Native American activist. His given name, Canowicakte, means ...
wrote that "Indians should be protected from the curse of the Wild West show schemes, wherein the Indians have been led to the white man's poison cup and have become drunkards."
Reformist progressives believed Wild West shows exploited Native Americans and vigorously opposed theatrical portrayals of Native Americans as savages and vulgar stereotypes. From 1886 to the onset of World War I, reformist progressives fought a war of images with Wild West shows before public exhibitions at world fairs, expositions and parades portraying the model
Carlisle Indian Industrial School
The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. It took over the historic Carlisle ...
as a new generation of Native Americans embracing civilization, education and industry.
Public interest in Native American culture and imagery
Wild West shows were exceptionally popular in the United States and Europe. Here, the American and European public could see and hear some of the first Americans, not as curiosities, but a people with vibrant culture. In 1893, over two million patrons saw Buffalo Bill's Wild West perform during the
Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
. "Buffalo Bill" Cody launched his Wild West traveling show in 1883, and was so successful there were fifty copies in two years. Buffalo Bill toured the United States and Europe until his death in 1917. Wild West shows were "
dime novel
The dime novel is a form of late 19th-century and early 20th-century U.S. popular fiction issued in series of inexpensive paperbound editions. The term ''dime novel'' has been used as a catchall term for several different but related forms, r ...
s come alive." Millions of Americans and Europeans enjoyed the imagery and adventure of historic reenactments of the
Battle of Little Big Horn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Nor ...
; demonstrations of Lakota horse culture and equestrian skills; archery, ceremonial dancing, cooking and music. Visitors could stroll through model Indian tipi "villages" and meet performers; available for purchase were crafts from women artisans, and autographed postcards, photographs and memorabilia from famous Wild Westers.
![Chief Iron Tail in Long Bonnet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Chief_Iron_Tail_in_Long_Bonnet.jpg)
Between 1887 and World War I, over 1,000 Native Americans went "Wild Westing" with Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Most Wild Westers were
Oglala Lakota
The Oglala (pronounced , meaning "to scatter one's own" in Lakota language) are one of the seven subtribes of the Lakota people who, along with the Dakota people, Dakota, make up the Sioux, Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven Council Fires). A majority ...
from
Pine Ridge, South Dakota
Pine Ridge (Lakota: ''wazíbló'') is a census-designated place (CDP) and the most populous community in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 3,138 at the 2020 census. It is the tribal headquarters of the Oglala ...
, the first Lakota people to go Wild Westing.
During a time when the
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
was intent on promoting Native assimilation, Col. Cody used his influence with U.S. government officials to secure Native American performers for his Wild West. Buffalo Bill treated Native American employees as equals with white cowboys. Wild Westers received good wages, transportation, housing, abundant food, and gifts of cash and clothing from Buffalo Bill at the end of each season. Wild Westers were employed as performers, interpreters and recruiters. Men had money in their pockets and for their families on the reservation. Female performers were paid extra for infants and children, and supplemented wages by making and selling Lakota crafts.
![Cliff House 1902](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Cliff_House_1902.jpg)
Sobriety and good conduct was required. Performers agreed to refrain from all drinking, gambling and fighting, and to return to his or her reservation at the end of each seasonal tour. Shows hired venerable elder male Indians to appear in the parades to ensure that young men acted with appropriate behavior when visiting host communities, and rules were self-policed by traditional Oglala Lakota chiefs and former U.S. Army Indian Scouts.
Most performers spent one or two seasons on the road; some Wild Westers became cowboys, stuntmen for films, artisans, musicians, educators, authors, movie actors and entrepreneurs. Chief
Flying Hawk
Flying Hawk (Oglala Lakota: ''Čhetáŋ Kiŋyáŋ'' in Standard Lakota Orthography; also known as Moses Flying Hawk; March 1854 – December 24, 1931) was an Oglala Lakota warrior, historian, educator and philosopher. Flying Hawk's life chron ...
was a veteran of Wild West shows over 30 years, from about 1898 to 1930.
Wild Westing was very popular with the Lakota people and beneficial to their families and communities. It offered a path of opportunity during a time when people believed Native Americans were a vanishing race, whose only hope for survival was rapid cultural transformation. It offered a safe haven for Lakota leadership after the Sioux Wars and for famous Native American prisoners of war. The touring also offered freedom six months each year from the degrading confines of government reservations. Wild Westing was an act of passive resistance to oppressive Bureau of Indian Affairs policies.
[Oskate Wicasa, p.3.]
Wild Westing was a means for the Lakota to preserve their culture and religion. Shows generally toured from late spring to late autumn, paralleling the traditional buffalo hunt season. In performance, the Lakota performed dances banned at the time on reservations. Lakota dancers in the present day credit Cody and the Wild Westers for preserving dances that were otherwise suppressed. The Lakota easily adapted to historical reenactments of the traditional practice of continually reenacting their history in dance and rituals. By this means, the exploits of the warriors were indelibly inscribed upon the collective consciousness of the ''oyate'', or nation. Wild Westers at times performed programs that dramatized the very battles, raids and massacres in which the men had participated as warriors.
Wild Westing allowed individuals to draw their own conclusions and make decisions about their own lives. It improved self-esteem and provided pleasure from performing for appreciative audiences.
It offered adventure; performers traveled to the great cities of the world and freely associated with new cultures. Inter-marriage was not uncommon and many performers settled in Europe, some traveling with other shows and circuses. Between daily performances, Wild Westers played games such as ping pong and dominoes, which they had adopted during European tours.
Traveling and performing was hard work, and rest and relaxation was important. Performers were permitted to freely travel by automobile or by train, for shopping, sightseeing, visiting friends, attending parties and gala events.
Wild Westers
![Buffalo bill cody](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Buffalo_bill_cody.jpg)
Wild westers educated the American and European public about Native American history and culture. The Wild Wester community was a diverse group, including U.S. Army Indian Scouts from the Great Sioux War; famous prisoners of war such as Lakota Chief
Sitting Bull
Sitting Bull ( lkt, Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake ; December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against United States government policies. He was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock I ...
,
Ghost Dancers Kicking Bear
Kicking Bear ( lkt, Matȟó Wanáȟtaka, March 18, 1845 – May 28, 1904) was an Oglala Lakota who became a band chief of the Miniconjou Lakota Sioux. He fought in several battles with his brother, Flying Hawk, and first cousin, Crazy Horse, dur ...
and
Short Bull; Apache Chief
Geronimo
Geronimo ( apm, Goyaałé, , ; June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a prominent leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Ndendahe Apache people. From 1850 to 1886, Geronimo joined with members of three other Central Apache ba ...
;
Carlisle Indian School
The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. It took over the historic Carlisle B ...
students
Luther Standing Bear
Luther Standing Bear (Óta Kté or "Plenty Kill," also known as Matȟó Nážiŋ or "Standing Bear", 1868 - 1939) was a Sicangu and Oglala Lakota author, educator, philosopher, and actor. He worked to preserve Lakota culture and sovereignty, and ...
and Frank C. Goings; and Chiefs Iron Tail and
Red Shirt, who became international celebrities. Chief Iron Tail was the most famous Native American of his day; a popular subject for professional photographers, he had his image circulated across the continents. Chief Red Shirt was popular with journalists and newspapers and was the most quoted Wild Wester celebrity. Early dime novels, Wild West shows and Golden Age photographers, portraitists and movie-makers created the theatrical image and portrayal of the Lakota people as the iconic American Indian mounted warrior. This popular perception in the United States and Europe was created by Lakota performers in their historic reenactments of the Sioux Wars; demonstrations of Lakota horse culture and equestrian skills; and ceremonial dancing, cooking and music.
Carlisle Indian Industrial School
![American_Horse_at_Carlisle,_1882](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/American_Horse_at_Carlisle%2C_1882.png)
The
Carlisle Indian Industrial School
The United States Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, generally known as Carlisle Indian Industrial School, was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. It took over the historic Carlisle ...
in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...
, was the flagship Indian boarding school in the United States from 1879 through 1918. Carlisle was the first Indian boarding school located far from the reservation, in an Eastern environment free of the West's anti-Indian prejudices and free from the influences of native cultures.
Carlisle set the bar for 26 Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding schools in 15 states and territories and hundreds of private boarding schools sponsored by religious denominations. Over 10,000 Native American children from 140 tribes attended Carlisle. Tribes with the largest number of students included the
Sioux
The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...
,
Chippewa,
Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
,
Oneida
Oneida may refer to:
Native American/First Nations
* Oneida people, a Native American/First Nations people and one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy
* Oneida language
* Oneida Indian Nation, based in New York
* Oneida Na ...
,
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
,
Apache
The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...
,
Cheyenne
The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enroll ...
and
Alaskan
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
. Carlisle offered a path of opportunity and hope at a time when people believed Native Americans were a vanishing race whose only hope for survival was rapid cultural transformation.
Carlisle was founded on the principle that Native American children immersed in white culture would learn skills to advance in society. Carlisle evolved beyond an industrial trade school. Nearby historic
Dickinson College
, mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning
, established =
, type = Private liberal arts college
, endowment = $645.5 million (2022)
, president = J ...
provided Carlisle Indian School students with visiting professors, access to the Dickinson Preparatory School ("Conway Hall") and college level education. The
Dickinson School of Law
Penn State Dickinson Law, formerly Dickinson School of Law, is a public law school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It is one of two separately accredited law schools of The Pennsylvania State University. According to Penn State Dickinson Law's 2019 ...
was another resource to the Carlisle Indian School and a number of Carlisle students attended. Students excelled at music, debating, journalism and sports, and were offered internships and a summer outing program living with white families and earning wages. The Carlisle Indian Band, Carlisle Cadets and
Carlisle Indians football
The Carlisle Indians football team represented the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in intercollegiate football competition. The program was active from 1893 until 1917, when it was discontinued. During the program's 25 years, the Indians compiled ...
team earned national reputations. The Carlisle Indian Band performed at world fairs, expositions, parades and every national presidential inaugural celebration until the school closed. The Carlisle Cadets at arms marched in parades. The Carlisle Indians were a national football powerhouse in the early 20th century and competed and won games against Harvard, Pennsylvania, Cornell, Dartmouth, Yale, Princeton, Brown, and Army and Navy. During the program's 25 years, the Carlisle Indians compiled a 167–88–13 record and 0.647 winning percentage, the most successful defunct major college football program. In 1911, the Indians posted an 11–1 record, which included one of the greatest upsets in college football history. Legendary athlete
Jim Thorpe
James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native ...
and coach
Pop Warner
Glenn Scobey Warner (April 5, 1871 – September 7, 1954), most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American college football coach at various institutions who is responsible for several key aspects of the modern game. Included among his inn ...
led the Carlisle Indians to an 18–15 upset of Harvard before 25,000 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Thorpe scored all the points for Carlisle, a touchdown, extra point and four field goals.
![Carlisle pupils](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Carlisle_pupils.jpg)
Attending Carlisle is considered by some Native Americans like going to Yale, Princeton or Cambridge, and the family tradition of Carlisle alumni as "Harvard style" is one of pride and stories of opportunity and success. Carlisle was a unique school and produced a new generation of Native American leadership in the United States.
Oglala Lakota Wild Westers
![Buffalo Bill and Wild Westers at Sea](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Buffalo_Bill_and_Wild_Westers_at_Sea.png)
Wild Westing and the Carlisle Indian School were portals to education, opportunity and hope, and came at a time when the Lakota people were impoverished, harassed and confined. Most Wild Westers were Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, the first Lakota people to go Wild Westing. Known as "
Show Indians
Show Indians, or Wild West Show Indians, is a term for Native American performers hired by Wild West shows, most notably in Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders. "Show Indians" were primarily Oglala Lakota from the Pine Ridge In ...
", Oglala Wild Westers referred to themselves as ''Oskate Wicasa'' or "Show Man", a title of great honor and respect. On March 31, 1887,
Chief Blue Horse, Chief American Horse and Chief
Red Shirt and their families boarded the ''S.S. State of Nebraska'' in New York City, led a journey for the Lakota people when they crossed the sea to England on Buffalo Bill's first international tour to perform at the
Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria
The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria was celebrated on 20 and 21 June 1887 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Victoria's accession on 20 June 1837. It was celebrated with a Thanksgiving Service at Westminster Abbey, and a banquet to which ...
and in Birmingham, Salford and London over a five–month period. The entourage consisted of 97 Indians, 18 buffaloes, 2 deer, 10 elk, 10 mules, 5 Texas steers, 4 donkeys, and 108 horses.
Since 1887, Wild Westing has been a family tradition with several hundred Pine Ridge families. Between 1906 and 1915, 570 individuals from Pine Ridge went Wild Westing with Buffalo Bill and other shows. Often entire families worked together, and the tradition of the Wild Wester community is not unlike that of circus communities. Frank C. Goings, the recruiting agent for Buffalo Bill and other Wild West shows at Pine Ridge, was a Carlisle alumnus and Wild Wester with experience as a performer, interpreter and chaperone. Goings carefully chose the famous chiefs, the best dancers, the best singers, and the best riders; screened for performers willing to be away from home for extended periods of time; and coordinated travel, room and board. Travelling with his wife and children, and for many years toured Europe and the United States with Buffalo Bill's Wild West,
Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Real West and the
Sells Floto Circus
The Sells Floto Circus was a combination of the Floto Dog & Pony Show and the Sells Brothers Circus that toured with sideshow acts in the United States during the early 1900s.
History
Frederick Gilmer Bonfils and Harry Heye Tammen owned the firs ...
.
Carlisle Wild Westers
![Frank C](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/97/Frank_C._Goings.png)
Many Oglala Lakota Wild Westers from Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota attended Carlisle. Carlisle Wild Westers were attracted by the adventure, pay and opportunity and were hired as performers, chaperons, interpreters and recruiters. Wild Westers from Pine Ridge enrolled their children at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School from its beginning in 1879 until its closure in 1918. In 1879, Oglala Lakota leaders Chief Blue Horse, Chief American Horse and Chief Red Shirt enrolled their children in the first class at Carlisle. They wanted their children to learn English, trade skills and white customs. "Those first Sioux children who came to Carlisle could not have been happy there. But it was their only chance for a future."
Luther Standing Bear
Luther Standing Bear (Óta Kté or "Plenty Kill," also known as Matȟó Nážiŋ or "Standing Bear", 1868 - 1939) was a Sicangu and Oglala Lakota author, educator, philosopher, and actor. He worked to preserve Lakota culture and sovereignty, and ...
was taught to be brave and unafraid to die, and left the reservation to attend Carlisle and do some brave deed to bring honor to his family. Standing Bear's father celebrated his son's brave act by inviting his friends to a gathering and gave away seven horses and all the goods in his dry goods store.
World fairs and expositions
![Chief Blue Horse, Pan American Exposition, 1901](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Chief_Blue_Horse%2C_Pan_American_Exposition%2C_1901.jpg)
During the
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era (late 1890s – late 1910s) was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States focused on defeating corruption, monopoly, waste and inefficiency. The main themes ended during Am ...
, from the late 19th century until the onset of World War I, Native American performers were major draws and money-makers. Millions of visitors at world fairs, exhibitions and parades throughout the United States and Europe observed Native Americans portrayed as the vanishing race, exotic peoples and objects of modern comparative anthropology. Reformists Progressives and the
Society of American Indians
The Society of American Indians (1911–1923) was the first national American Indian rights organization run by and for American Indians. The Society pioneered twentieth century Pan-Indianism, the movement promoting unity among American Indians ...
fought a war of words and images against popular Wild West shows at world fairs, expositions and parades and opposed theatrical portrayals of Wild Westers as vulgar heathen stereotypes. In contrast, Carlisle students were portrayed as a new generation of Native American leadership embracing civilization, education and industry. The fight for the image of the Native American began when Reformist Progressives pressured organizers to deny Buffalo Bill a place at the
Columbian Exposition of 1893
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
in Chicago, Illinois. Instead, a feature of the Exposition was a model Indian school and an ethnological Indian village supported by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In style, Buffalo Bill established a fourteen-acre swath of land near the main entrance of the fair for "Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Congress of Rough Riders of the World" where he erected stands around an arena large enough to seat eighteen thousand spectators.
Seventy-four Wild Westers from Pine Ridge, South Dakota, who had recently returned from a tour of Europe, were contracted to perform in the show. Cody also brought in an additional one hundred Wild Westers directly from Pine Ridge, Standing Rock and Rosebud reservations, who visited the Exposition at his expense and participated in the opening ceremonies. Over two million patrons saw Buffalo Bill's Wild West outside the Columbian Exposition, often mistaking the show as an integral part to the World's Fair.
The "vanishing race" theme was dramatized at the
Trans-Mississippi Exposition
The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition was a world's fair held in Omaha, Nebraska from June 1 to November 1 of 1898. Its goal was to showcase the development of the entire West, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coa ...
of 1898 at
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
, and The Pan-American Exposition of 1901 in Buffalo, New York. Exposition organizers assembled Wild Westers representing different tribes who portrayed Native Americans as a "vanishing race" at "The Last Great Congress of the Red Man", brought together for the first and last time, apparently to commiserate before they all vanished.
The
Louisiana Purchase Exposition
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was an World's fair, international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, from April 30 to December 1, 1904. Local, state, and federal funds tota ...
of 1904, known as the St. Louis World's Fair, was the last of the great fairs in the United States before World War I. Organizers wanted their exotic people to be interpreted by anthropologists in a modern scientific manner portraying contrasting images of Native Americans. A Congress of Indian Educators was convened and Oglala Lakota Chief
Red Cloud
Red Cloud ( lkt, Maȟpíya Lúta, italic=no) (born 1822 – December 10, 1909) was a leader of the Oglala Lakota from 1868 to 1909. He was one of the most capable Native American opponents whom the United States Army faced in the western ...
and Chief
Blue Horse, both eighty-three years old, and the best-known Native America orators at the St. Louis World's Fair, spoke to audiences. A model Indian School was placed on top on a hill so Indians below could see their future as portrayed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. On one side of the school, "blanket Indians", men or women who refused to relinquish their native dress and customs, demonstrated their artistry inside the school on one side of the hall. On the other side, Indian boarding school students displayed their achievements in reading, writing, music, dancing, trades and arts. The Carlisle Indian Band performed at the Pennsylvania state pavilion, and the Haskell Indian Band performed a mixture of classical, popular music and Wheelock's "Aboriginal Suite" which included Native dances and war whoops by band members.
1905 inaugural parade of Theodore Roosevelt
![Roosevelt Inauguration Parade](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/Roosevelt_Inauguration_Parade.jpg)
On March 4, 1905, Wild Westers and Carlisle students portrayed contrasting images of Native Americans at the First Inaugural Parade of Theodore Roosevelt. Six famous Native American Chiefs,
Geronimo
Geronimo ( apm, Goyaałé, , ; June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a prominent leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Ndendahe Apache people. From 1850 to 1886, Geronimo joined with members of three other Central Apache ba ...
(Apache),
Quanah Parker
Quanah Parker (Comanche ''kwana'', "smell, odor") ( – February 23, 1911) was a war leader of the Kwahadi ("Antelope") band of the Comanche Nation. He was likely born into the Nokoni ("Wanderers") band of Tabby-nocca and grew up among the Kwah ...
(Comanche), Buckskin Charlie (Ute),
American Horse
American Horse ( lkt, Wašíčuŋ Tȟašúŋke) (a/k/a "American Horse the Younger") (1840 – December 16, 1908) was an Oglala Lakota chief, statesman, educator and historian. American Horse is notable in American history as a U.S. Army Indian S ...
(Oglala Lakota),
Hollow Horn Bear
Hollow Horn Bear (Lakota, Matȟó Héȟloǧeča; March 1850March 15, 1913) was a Brulé Lakota chief. He fought in many of the battles of the Sioux Wars, including the Battle of Little Big Horn.
Later, while serving as police chief of the Rose ...
(Sicangu Lakota) and Little Plume (Blackfeet), met in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to rehearse the parade with the Carlisle Cadets and Band. Theodore Roosevelt sat in the presidential box with his wife, daughter and other guests, and watched West Point cadets and the famed 7th Cavalry, General
George A. Custer
George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars.
Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...
's former unit that fought at the
Battle of Little Bighorn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, known to the Lakota people, Lakota and other Plains Indians as the Battle of the Greasy Grass, and also commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lako ...
, march down Pennsylvania Avenue. When the contingent of Wild Westers and the Carlisle Cadets and Band came into view, President Roosevelt waved his hat and all in the President's box rose to their feet to see the six famous Native American Chiefs adorned with face paint and elaborate feather headdresses, riding on horseback, followed by the 46-piece Carlisle Indian School Band and a brigade of 350 Carlisle Cadets at arms. Leading the group was Geronimo, in full Apache regalia, riding a horse also in war paint. It was reported that: "The Chiefs created a sensation, eclipsing the intended symbolism of a formation of 350 uniformed Carlisle students led by a marching band," and "all eyes were on the six chiefs, the cadets received passing mention in the newspapers and nobody bothered to photograph them."
21st century Wild Westing
![Grand Entry Omaha](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Grand_Entry_Omaha.jpg)
Wild Westers still perform in movies, pow-wows, pageants and rodeos. Some Oglala Lakota people carry on family show business traditions from Carlisle alumni who worked for Buffalo Bill and other Wild West shows.
[Oskate Wicasa, p.121.] Americans and Europeans continue to have a great interest in Native peoples and enjoy modern Pow-wow culture. First began in Wild West shows,
Pow-wow
A powwow (also pow wow or pow-wow) is a gathering with dances held by many Native American and First Nations
First Nations or first peoples may refer to:
* Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an ...
culture is popular with Native American throughout the United States and a source of tribal enterprise. Americans and Europeans continue to enjoy traditional Native Americans skills; horse culture, ceremonial dancing and cooking; and buying Native American art, music and crafts. There are several on-going national projects that celebrate Wild Westers and Wild Westing.
The National Museum of American History's Photographic History Collection at the Smithsonian Institution preserves and displays Gertrude Käsebier's photographs, as well as many others by photographers who captured the displays of Wild Westing.
References
Further reading
Michelle Delaney, “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Warriors: Photographs by Gertrude Käsebier” Smithsonian Institution
{{Wild West
American frontier
Wild West shows
Buffalo Bill
Native Americans in popular culture
Carlisle Indian Industrial School
Native American boarding schools
Assimilation of indigenous peoples of North America