Introduction to History 246 Circus Project

Worst Job in the Wild West

By Noah Albin

Imagine waking up for three-quarters of the year, and working a job where you are asked to wear clothes and markings that don’t match your ethnic background and behave in an exaggeratedly violent way to highlight your “savagery.” Would you stay for the money, or would you quit because of the indignity of it all? That is the question Native Americans asked themselves while working for the circus and the Wild West Shows. The circus has a long history of exploiting individuals to increase interest in the circus and eventually increase the profit of the circus. A marginalized group of people who were exploited from the very beginning of the circus were Native Americans. In the late 1800s, Native Americans faced exploitation in the Wild West Shows, more specifically “Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.” Native Americans were painted as the “bad guys,” or “savages” in these shows. The show was created by William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody when America was focused on westward expansion. Using the nation’s interest in westward expansion, Buffalo Bill capitalized on the period and brought the “wild west” to the eastern civilizations. However, in the late 1800s westward expansion, there was one issue, the Native Americans lived in the west. The nation’s arrival in the west led to conflicts with Native American tribes over land and resources.^[1] There were many conflicts between the two throughout the century and Buffalo Bill captured what it was like to be a part of the conflict from the settler’s point of view.

In Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, Native Americans became a big part of the show. In a show about the Wild West, Native Americans were essential to the storytelling and spectacle of expanding the nation’s borders. In the shows, they often did a reenactment of what took place during the many conflicts.^[1] The Native Americans were shown as the stereotypical war-bonneted warriors; seen as savages and uncivilized. They had to act like savages in the reenactment every night in which they would lose every battle in an already lost war except for one. The Battle of Little Bighorn was one battle where the Native Americans were shown as the winners, but in their “victory,” it would demonstrate to the American audience that there was a justification for the American conquest.^[2] Why would the Native American performers continue to do a show where they represent an entire race of people as savages and the need to be conquered? It was because they were treated and paid the same as any other performer. They could travel with their families, and they earned a living not possible for them in the Indian reservations. According to the Center of the West, “They were encouraged by Buffalo Bill and others to retain their language and rituals. They gained access to political and economic leaders, and their causes were sometimes argued in the published show programs.”^[3] As seen in figures 1 and 2, the poster advertisements depict Native Americans in their culture’s traditional attire; showing how Buffalo Bill encouraged Native Americans to retain their language and rituals. With incentives such as those, it was very easy for Native American performers to want to stay with the traveling Wild West show.

Along with the Wild West shows, Native Americans were also depicted as a “vanishing race.” Janet Davis states in her book titled The Circus Age: Culture and Society Under the American Big Top, that “Advertisements exhorted audiences to see the Wild West show soon, to catch a last, live glimpse of the nearly ‘extinct’ American Indian.”^[1] Along with being hired to perform in westward expansion battles, Native Americans were also hired to dramatize the narrative that they were a part of the “vanishing race.” However, the hiring of these Native Americans helped cement their race in the history books, especially because Buffalo Bill himself encouraged them to utilize their language and rituals. Thus, allowing them to teach their practices and language to anyone who wants to learn.

(Figure 1 & 2) Poster advertisements depicting Buffalo Bill’s Real Wild West Shows. The date of the original poster is unknown. Posters are images from the Dunwoody Collection at David L. Rice Library at the University of Southern Indiana.           

Through the usage of many different types of people, the Wild West shows, and the circus made a large profit. During the time of the Wild West shows, Buffalo Bill was able to make as much money as he did because of groups such as the Native Americans. The Native Americans were highly advertised and were a big part of the show’s attraction. Many people would come out to the show just to see what a “vanishing race” looks like or what it was really like fighting in the Wild West. Without the addition of the Native Americans, the show might not have been as popular as it was. Buffalo Bill saw how much press coverage was on the westward expansion and saw the perfect opportunity to have a show revolving around the interest of the Wild West. Buffalo Bill brilliantly utilized his employees and his marketing skills to perfection, creating a lot of buzz around the show which in turn created a profit for himself and his hard-working employees. Although Native Americans were shown to be savages and as a race going extinct in the Wild West shows, it also provided opportunities for them to make money and to expand the knowledge of their people.

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Footnotes

^[1] Wylie, Alison. 1993. “Invented Lands/Discovered Pasts: The Westward Expansion of Myth and History.” Historical Archaeology 27 (4): 1–19.

^[2] “The Wild West Shows List.” n.d. International Independent Showmen’s Museum. Accessed November 1, 2023. https://showmensmuseum.org/wild-west-shows-list/.

^[3] Fees, Paul. n.d. “Wild West Shows – Buffalo Bill Center of the West.” Accessed November 1, 2023. https://centerofthewest.org/learn/western-essays/wild-west-shows/.

^[4] Fees, Paul. n.d. “Wild West Shows – Buffalo Bill Center of the West.” Accessed November 1, 2023. https://centerofthewest.org/learn/western-essays/wild-west-shows/.

^[5] Davis, Janet M. 2002. The Circus Age: Culture & Society Under the American Big Top. The University of North Carolina Press.

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References

Davis, Janet M. The Circus Age: Culture & Society Under the American Big Top. The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

Fees, Paul. “Wild West Shows – Buffalo Bill Center of the West.” Accessed November 1, 2023. https://centerofthewest.org/learn/western-essays/wild-west-shows/.

International Independent Showmen’s Museum. “The Wild West Shows List.” Accessed November 1, 2023. https://showmensmuseum.org/wild-west-shows-list/.

Wylie, Alison. “Invented Lands/Discovered Pasts: The Westward Expansion of Myth and History.” Historical Archaeology 27, no. 4 (1993): 1–19.