Page 206 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

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whites fo und unacceptable. Indians, who were usually deferential and
even ingratiating to whites, were willing to "perform" fo r white women
because it gave them a rare opportunity to act out their dissatisfaction
in aggressive ways that would be unacceptable to whites in other situ­
ations. 159 As a result, white women generally viewed beef issues as a col­
orful gathering of native peoples, but were often repulsed by Indians'
fe rocity as they slaughtered and disemboweled animals. 16o W o men usu­
ally f o und ball games and stomp dances entertaining, but sometimes sus­
pected that certain performers ingested drugs and hallucinogens. 161
Indian war dances and mock battles were even more problematic
f o r white women. Some regarded them as interesting social affairs. 162
Although one woman was pleased when Nez Perce Indians prepared a
mock battle fo r her mother's first visit to Oregon,16 3 other women
admitted that such performances raised their inner anxieties. Whether
they realized it or not, these women reacted to an expression of Indian
identity , and perhaps to a subliminal challenging of white hegemony,
.
that permeated these "harmless" exhibitions 1 6 4 In r875, Wyoming
visitor Laura Johnson watched nervously as Sioux filed toward Fort
Fetterman to stage a dance. Although impressed with their attire, she f e lt
that the dancers represented "a piece of real savage life." T o her, these
Sioux were "of the wildest kind, about as savage as any there are."
Insightfully, she viewed the male dancers as close to the "real thing"
rather than imitation. 1 6 5 Similarly, during the r 8 90s Ellen Biddle
observed Indian dancers moving toward Fort Robinson in fu ll regalia.
"Few people," she wrote, "can see a tribe of Indians marching toward
them, even without their war paint, without f e eling a thumping of the
heart and a trembling of the limbs; at least that was my experience." She
added that the dance, attended by people f r om miles around the fo rt,
was a "tremendous success," presumably as an exotic f o rm of
entertainment. 166
Other women responded f e arfully to the dances that they witnessed.
Whatever accommodations they had made with Indians were too recent
and wounds too deep f o r these performances to be innocuous. One
women enjoyed a Paiute dance, but, due to recent "unpleasant experi­
ence with their neighbors, the Shoshones," she "felt more comfortable
when they were gone." 16 7 Another, stunned by the fe rocity of the