[0:00]Just a few years after Big Horn, American Scout, Buffalo Hunter and Showman, Buffalo Bill Cody. Founds his Wild West show, an extravagant touring pageant of all things Western. He had been eyeing the opportunity since the battle occurred. Ladies and gentlemen, Buffalo Bill's Wild West. racing, horses, roping, riding, shooting. You know, all of these things were part of the show. The performance of Custer's Last Stand is a highlight. Before cinema or television, the Wild West brings history alive.
[0:47]Montana is pretty remote, and most people will never step foot on that land. But then you're sitting in an arena and you're attending a show. And here it is in front of you and the guns and the noise and the dust, and it's all there. Curiously, the biggest draw is the real-life Native Americans performing in the show. When American Indians are seen as a threat, they're depicted as savages, of course, and there's something that's fearful. Once they've become domesticated, they become an item of nostalgia. For the Indians, the show represents a chance to escape reservation life. Records show that Cody paid his performers well. The Wild West starts out with 36 Pawnee performers, but shifts focus to Sue from the Pine Ridge Reservation. Eventually employing 100 at a time. The Wild West shows offered native people suffering under these pressures of assimilation, an outlet, an ability to travel, an ability to perform.
[2:06]Hiring performers from reservations takes intense negotiation with the government. You have to remember, Indian wars continued in the first almost decade of the Wild West. The performances were happening while the US government and the army were still engaging in battle in Indian territory. Almost inconceivable that this was happening at the same time as the performances.
