Wild West Shows and the Images of American Indians, 1883-1933

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Between the 1880s and the 1930s Show Indians depicted their warfare with whites and portrayed scenes from their culture in productions that traveled throughout the United States and Europe and drew huge audiences--well over a million people in 1885 alone.

The view that they were tipi-and-war-bonnet Indians exploited by entrepreneurs like Buffalo Bill was commonly held by reformers of the 1890s, and has been uncritically accepted ever since. This book, now available in paperback, is the first to examine the lives and experiences of Show Indians from their own point of view. Their dances, re-enactments of battles, and village encampments, the author demonstrates, helped preserve the Indians' cultural heritage through decades of forced assimilation.

This book also looks at Wild West shows as ventures in the entertainment business. By considering financing, scripting, recruitment, logistics, and public and creditor perceptions, L. G. Moses reveals the complexity of the enterprise and the numerous--and often contradictory--meanings the shows had for Indians, entrepreneurs, audiences, and government officials.

Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, begun in 1883, was a classic example of American show business: a cowboy-and-Indian spectacular starring 36 real Pawnees, a bunch of rodeo cowboys, 180 horses, and 18 buffalo. Cody treated his mostly eastern audiences to thrilling displays of shooting and riding, exotic Indian ceremonial dances, and blood-curdling reenactments of famous western battles. The show, a huge success, helped perpetuate the Wild West myth for the millions who saw it; in London, even Queen Victoria was impressed. Imagining the lives of Cody's Indians, one might predict a level of exploitation. Not so, Moses argues in this historical study. He provides first-hand narratives and fascinating photos that venture behind the curtain of Cody's show to suggest that as Cody's Indians traveled the world, they preserved their cultural heritage and had a good time doing it.