Page 38 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

CHAPT E R ON E

"prairie beauties," and "natural flowers" of the American West and vehe­
mently denied that they were New Women. Only a few of them rode
their horses astride; Oakley was not among them. She termed riding
astride a "horrid idea" and did her riding with a sidesaddle. 65
Annie Oakley herself hoped to embody what she termed the finest
of female qualities. Annie, who was five feet tall and weighed about one
hundred pounds, wore her hair long and loose, avoided makeup and jew­
elry, and donned calf-length skirts, leggings, and low-heeled shoes. In
1888, a reporter admitted that he expected Oakley to be a "strong, virile,
masculine-like woman, of loud voice, tall of stature and of massive pro­
portions"; instead he found a "pretty little lady " who spoke with him in
a gentle, refined voice. 66
Oakley, who thought of herself as a Victorian "true woman," demon­
strated the five attributes she associated with ladyhood; she was married,
modest, domestic, benevolent, and a civilizing force. Annie was married
for fifty years to shooter Frank Butler, who spared her from immodesty
by handling all business arrangements, including publicity. The domes­
.
tic Annie adorned her tent with a Brussels carpet,a marble-topped table,
and a rocking chair, in which she sat between acts doing fancy embroi­
dery. The benevolent Annie gave money and gifts to everyone from
family members to orphans, whereas Annie as a civilizer disapproved of
cursing, smoking, or drinking alcohol, especially in her presence. 6 7
Throughout her career,Annie Oakley maintained her feminine per­
sona. Although she entered the male realm of what she called "arenic
sports," Annie said she did not want to be a New Woman. Nor was
Oakley a suffragist. She opposed woman suffrage because she feared that
"not enough good women will vote." As the first American cowgirl,
Annie offered the era's women a model of achievement blended with
traditional femininity. Oakley not only rode and shot in Cody's W i ld
West, but set records in shooting matches and was an accomplished
hunter. Yet she also was ladylike in conduct and in appearance. For
instance, Annie Oakley was partly responsible for the bicycle craze of the
1890s. She brought one back from England and was soon riding and
shooting from bicycle-back, wearing a modest suit of her own design,
with hidden garters that held down the skirt as she pedaled. Later, when
Oakley, who retired from the W i ld West in 1901, made a comeback with

3 0