The Wild West 11: Gender in the West

weren't the only kinds of folks who lived there. Of course, during the pre contact days of Native America, boundaries blurred and possibilities loomed. When it came to gender. Many Native cultures had expansive views on what it meant to inhabit a body, and over one hundred and thirty tribes across North America showcased some type of gender nonconformity in their community. They were known as two spirit people, and for many Indigites groups, they were viewed as sacred. They often served

as healers and medicine folks. They had places of reverence in society, but not all people were so accepting European colonizers, who came from a very different culture, sought to eradicate those who didn't conform to their rigid understanding of what it meant to be male and female and how one

should be playing out those roles. In fifteen thirteen, for example, the Spanish conquistador Vasco Nunez de Balboa sentenced around forty gender non conforming indigenous people to death, and as the late seventeenth century arrived, French colonizers further denounced and stigmatized those practices, casting an oppressive paul over those who defied their rigid norms. The dawn of the twentieth century saw

Western scientists and their creation of the taxonomic system. People became obsessed with categories and classifications and figuring out how to place animals, vegetables, and minerals in little, tiny boxes. This led to a lot of people assuming that there were right ways to be and wrong ways to be,

with little room for anything else. Like I said before, we can see the wild West so clearly we have specific assumptions, specific images that try to capture how the people in that place and time might have looked and dressed and carried themselves. But when it came to the Wild Frontier, gender was a lot more complicated than any of us could imagine. I'm Aaron Manke, and welcome to the Wild West. In the vast expanse of the frontier that is now west central New Mexico, there once lived

the Zuni tribe. Men and women were assigned distinct responsibilities, and yet both enjoyed equal prestige and status. The Zuni first encountered European colonizers in fifteen forty when Spanish explorers arrived, and those Spaniards didn't care much for the tribes traditions, especially regarding gender roles. In fact, they were pretty confused. You see, while European society was firmly rooted in the patriarchy,

the Zuni followed matriarchal tradition. Men often knitted clothing or may jewelry, while the women owned property and were seen as the head of the household. But within all of this was another important role in the Zuni culture, that of a third, more ambiguous gender. Awana Walona, the Zuni supreme being and creator of all life, was considered to be both male and female. In fact, their foundational beliefs celebrated blurred lines the in between, and then in eighteen

forty nine, a special child was born, we Wa. Wewa would become the most renowned Zuni lamana, a person in Zuni society who was assigned male at birth but would grow up to take on both male and female roles and dress for the Zuni people who held those liminal in between spaces in such high regard, it was seen as a great honor to welcome a lamana into their community. Now let me pause here for a moment. The historical records show both male and female pronouns have been assigned

to Weewa's story. In fact, go online and watch or listen to modern Zuni historians talk about Weewa, and you'll hear either of them used interchangeably. For our journey today, though we'll be using the gender neutral singular they them, which yes, is grammatically correct for anyone who might be suddenly worried about the integrity of the English language. Orphaned at a young age, Wewa and their brother lived with

a wealthy and influential aunt within the tribe. The siblings received an education in Zuni traditions, gaining specialized ceremonial knowledge and participating in revered cultural rituals. Over time, we Wa became skilled in various crafts, excelled in Zuni pottery and weaving, eventually bolstering native arts by selling that pottery in those textiles. According to anthropologist Matilda Cox Stevenson, we WA's extensive knowledge of Zuni history and culture are earned them recognition as

one of the most intelligent individuals in the Peblo. The Zuni culture placed great importance on Kachina's, their ancestral spirit beings. During Kachina ceremonies, we Wa embodied the spirit of ko Lamana, symbolizing the harmonious combination of male and female traits and wisdom. Of course, those traditions were foreign to a lot of other people, especially the curious white anthropologists who came to study them. Matilda Cox Stevenson and her husband James were

two of those people. Matilda and we Wa struck up what was, depending on your perspective, an unlikely friendship or a mutual sense that the other could be useful to them. Matilda wanted to make a name for herself by documenting Zuni culture and introducing Wewa to Washington, d c. Society and Wewa wanted to secure protection for their shrinking tribal lands, which is why together in eighteen eighty five, they embarked on a trip to the nation's capital to see what

could be done in the name of tribal preservation. During their stay, which extended into the summer of eighteen eighty six, Wewa learned to speak English and lived under the Stevenson's roof, But Washington society was unsure of what to think about we Wa. Standing roughly six feet tall with long black hair gathered into a thick braid and adorned with feathers, paired with a traditional calico dress and a dark colored woven blanket called a manta, Wewa didn't look like a

typical diplomat. In fact, many people mistook the Lamana for a Zuni princess or a high priestess. On June twenty third of eighteen eighty six, the delegation visited the White House, and in doing so, Wewa became the first Lamana on record to shake hands with an American president. President Cleveland and his wife even presented them with a gift, and despite the language barrier, they asked the President to help protect the Zuni's interests from American and Mexican settlers who

were encroaching on their land, and President Cleveland agreed. In the end, Wewa brought the Zuni culture into the public eye, helping Americans to understand the importance of the tribe's heritage, history, and way of life, making Wewa one of the most well known Native Americans of the nineteenth century. Custer had

a secret. In eighteen seventy four, the military leader, then a lieutenant colonel, returned from South Dakota's Black Hills, and he carried with him some news that would ignite a frenzy, the discovery of gold on Native American land. The territory where the gold had been found was protected by the Treaty of Fort Laramie, an agreement made six years earlier in eighteen sixty eight between the Lakota Sioux and the US government. Some tribal leaders, though, like Sitting Bull and

Crazy Horse, didn't agree with the treaty. It asked the tribes to give up their nomadic lifestyle and instead depend on government aid. As you can imagine, this led to conflicts between Settle and people from those tribes. The US government had been pressing the Lakota Sioux to sell their sacred land to them, but the native peoples had refused, so in late eighteen seventy five, the government basically just demanded that all Lakota report to reservations, with a deadline

of January thirty first of eighteen seventy six. If they refused, they risked being labeled as hostiles. And still the Lakota remained defiant, which is why Custer led his troops into the Black Hills in eighteen seventy six. He was there to force the Sioux onto reservations and claim the gold rich land for the United States, and as we all know, Custer's last stand was a victory for the Native American people and is still remembered today as the US Army's

most devastating defeat in the Plains Indian War. There was a survivor, though, a guy named Sergeant John Noonan. He'd been left behind at the Yellowstone Depot, ordered to tend the cattle there while Custer led the rest of the battle. Noonan had joined the cavalry in eighteen seventy Tioo, and his dedication and efficiency helped him rise through the ranks. But he also had something else going for him, his

good looks. General Custer's wife, Elizabeth, praised the man's appearance, describing him as the most handsome soldier in his company. With his deep blue eyes, dark hair, and fair complexion, he caught the attention of everyone who met him. Following the Battle of Little Bighorn, Noonan returned to Fort Abraham Lincoln in the Dakota Territory, where he was reunited with his wife. Now, if you dig through the records, you'll

only see the name missus Nash. Were not clear on a lot of her background, but historians think that she had been married twice before, so perhaps the last name came from one of those previous husbands. Now, by all accounts, Missus Nash kept an immaculate home. Specifically, her talents with laundry earned immense respect with other officers wives, all viying for her expertise in cleaning delicate materials. On top of that, her culinary skills were celebrated and her presence became required

at social gathering. And if that weren't enough, missus Nash was also a skilled midwife. Her meticulous care and tenderness with newborns endeared her to the community. Between her husband John's dashing good looks and her tall, thin frame with dark skin and black hair from her Mexican heritage, they seemed quite happy to everyone who knew them. The perfect couple,

if ever there was one, But tragedy struck. When John was away on an extended campaign, his wife fell ill and passed away on the morning of October thirtieth of eighteen seventy eight. We've talked about it before. Of course, medicine was more of an art than a science back then, and sometimes illness just broke in and stole people from you.

It was sudden and tragic now, as the story goes, Before her death, missus Nash requested that she be buried in the clothes she was wearing, but her friends couldn't imagine laying her to rest forever in the ratty clothes she'd been wearing on her deathbed, so they broke their promise. And that's when something unusual happened. You see, during the preparation of her body, it was discovered that missus Nash

was not a woman at all. When John returned the following month, he was naturally devastated by the news of his wife's death, but he was also unprepared for the rumors regarding his wife's sex. The men at the fort ridiculed and mocked him about it the moment he arrived. Now, John insisted that his wife had been a woman, but no matter what he said, the rumors persisted, and it wasn't long before someone reportedly disturbed his wife's grave in search of answers, and a short time later a few

newspapers wrote that they believed John's story. But for John it was too late. Tormented by the relentless and cruel harassment from the men of the fort, and unable to find peace in the community that he once called home, he withdrew from society and eventually fell ill. And then, one day, not long after, John walked into a blacksmith shop at Fort Lincoln, where many of his fellow soldiers

were already present. As expected, they resumed their usual verbal abuse, Unable or unwilling to see the damne and the pain that they were causing him. Without warning, he pulled out his gun and shot himself in the heart. Sadly, it took John Noonan's death by suicide for those men to see what they had done to see the power that their words and cruelty had over the well being of a member of their community. But in the end, any remorse they finally summoned had arrived too late. Tragedy roamed

free across the wild West. But thankfully there are happier stories too. In the late eighteen hundreds, for example, one particular logger led a fascinating life filled with courage, generosity, and a well guarded secret. Sammy Williams worked in the logging industry in Montana for almost twenty years, and over those years, as the logging frontier expanded westward, rough camps were set up to accommodate the needs of the lumberjacks who made it all happen. Now. Initially, Sammy served as

both a lumberjack and a cook. As you'd imagine, feeding the crew was important, which is why it was a role seen as only second place to the superintendent of the entire camp. The reputation of any camp often hinged on the quality of the food they provided, and as it turns out, Sammy's popularity among the lumberjacks attested to his culinary talents. Life was good during his time in the logging industry. Sammy accumulated significant wealth and property, but

his affluence wasn't self serving. He generously cared for the sick and the destitute. In fact, many of the loggers were called discovering that Sammy had silently placed unexpected sums of money in their pockets during times of need. A hard worker, an excellent cook, and a generous spirit. But there's more. Sammy's linguistic talents were nothing short of outstanding. It wasn't enough for him to be fluent in English, Norwegian, and German, so he also learned the languages of the

Native American communities in the area. But Sammy also had a secret that only came to lights after he passed away on December tenth of nineteen oh eight from what some believed to be a stroke. The following day, undertaker George R. Safley discovered that the beloved lumberjack was female. Newspapers quickly spread the news of Sammy's death and the

discovery of his secret. Some attributed his choice to live as a man to a failed love affair and a desire to start a new life away from societal expectations. Others wove of elaborate narratives drawing inspiration from popular dime

novels of the time, romanticizing his journey. Saffly, though, proposed that Sammy had chosen to live as a man to make a living more easily, taking on a male role in a world that offered more opportunities to men, but all of these theories failed to fully explain how at ease he was living as a man. Some writers pointed out Sammy's stereotypical masculine behavior, describing him as occasionally getting drunk, swearing, chewing tobacco, and engaging in festive activities with the It

clearly wasn't just an act. Friends would later discovered letters written to him over the years that revealed his life. Before arriving in Montana, Sammy traveled quite a bit and had lived in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, the Minneapolis area, and Castleton, North Dakota. An insurance policy from eighteen eighty five, still bearing his chosen name and gender, further demonstrated his commitment

to his identity. After his passing, Sammy's co workers and community paid for a headstone and mourned the loss of their friend. Outside the community, his story inspired newspapers to discuss gender roles, with some even suggesting that women could become unsexed like Sammy, while others wondered why more women didn't seek the same freedom by assuming masculine roles. And look,

there will probably always be confusion. How people have seen gender as an identity throughout history has constantly shifted and changed, which complicates our struggle to define it. It's right there in the pages of history, though, and to ignore it is to be myopic and closed minded. What's clear is that Sammy Williams led the life he intended, and those who reflected on that life recognized the things that truly mattered, his resilience, his kindness, and his impact on the community.

The story wasn't uncommon in the rugged American West, where dreams and realities often collided head on, the lives of people like Sammy Williams remained hidden. Newspapers of the era reported on hundreds of stories of women who lived as men and men who lived as women, and it's likely that it was just the visible tip of a much larger iceberg. And these stories didn't just take place in the West either, but rather all over the world and

all throughout history. But like I said at the beginning, when most of us think of the Wild West, we think of how Hollywood and books have presented that era to us, full of hardcore outlaws and stets in wearing cowboys, and with a few exceptions, the women in those stories have always been stereotypically feminine and subservient. But maybe those assumptions are a lot farther from the mark than we've ever realized. Take, for example, the story of Milton Matson.

He found himself in the public eye in eighteen ninety five when authorities in San Jose threw him in jail his crime. He had supposedly tried to deceive others for financial gain in the process, Though the jailers realized the Matson had been born female. It wasn't until he became a media sensation that Matson confessed to feeling more like a man than a woman. And as you'd imagine, the

press relentlessly chased his story, eager for juicy details. They even dug into his relationship with his fiance Helen Fairweather, who staunchly defended her love for Matson. And then there's the story of Charlie Parkhurst. During the eighteen fifties, he was known throughout California for his legendary courage and skill as a stagecoach, he had bravely faced down dangerous outlaws

and saved lives. But after he died in eighteen seventy nine and his friends prepared his body for burial, they were shocked to learn that Charlie had been a female at birth. And back in nineteen oh four, another story caused quite a stir, grabbing headlines and the attention of readers everywhere. Joe Monahan, a rancher from Idaho, had passed away. Now, rumors had long circulated about Joe. The community had heard curious things about him, but were never so bold as

to ask him to his face about the rumors. But upon his death, it was confirmed Joe had been born female, and the media, of course jumped on the story, creating sensationalized tales about lost love and betrayal. In one theory, they made Joe out to be a woman who had once been wronged by a cruel lover. But these stories were all heavily influenced by society's beliefs about what love and tragedy should look like. The way most people saw there were strict roles that everyone was supposed to fit

into and these folks simply refused to play along. They just wanted to live their lives without having to share every last detail with the rest of the world. And I think the same can be said for all of us. Like the television and film world that gave them life, our perceptions of the wild West started out in black and white, but time and research have added color and

depth to those flat assumptions. Don't worry if your favorite Western characters are those half shaven cowboy law men and powerful elegant ladies back at the saloon, you will never run short on examples. But I hope today's journey has helped you see that the stories never end there. There's always nuance, always depth, and always variety, and that is

a good thing. But we're not done just yet. We've saved one more tale to share with you, and if you stick around through this brief sponsor break, my teammates Ali Stead will tell you all about it.

to dissect and pathologize gender differences. If researchers could define what normal looked like, they could better define what was deviate. In one of those academic texts, we learn about the life of an individual simply known as m uc M was one of four case studies presented under pseudonyms in an article titled Transvestism, A Contribution to the Study of the Psychology of Sex, published in the New York Medical Journal in nineteen fourteen. At the time, em was sixty

two years old. His age suggests that he had a lifetime of experiences that shaped his understanding of his identity. From an early age, m regarded himself as a man who had a strong affinity for wearing women's clothing, which was clear from a letter he wrote about his childhood memories. He'd always known who he was. He wrote that his playmates were always girls, and that his preferred toys were dolls, ribbons,

and miniature household items. He even possessed a talent for making dolls and crafting clothes for his sisters and other girls, and at the age of ten, he showed a remarkable experience for cooking and meal preparation that far surpassed those of older boys. He also had a protective side and readily defended his girlfriends against teasing or harassment. Though his behavior might have been less masculine than society thought was proper,

all was still well. It's n clear from his writings, but Em might have been allowed to wear girl's clothing at home, at least when his parents didn't have company. He was fifteen when his uncle came to visit in eighteen sixty seven. Again we're unsure of the specifics, but it appears m might have worn boy's clothing during his uncle's stay. But that wasn't enough to hide his secret. It didn't take long for his uncle to find the hidden stash of dresses, and to say the discovery made

him upset would be an understatement. His uncle took the matter up with his brother, ranting on and on about his nephew's sinful ways. The aftermath was a disaster. After receiving a scathing scolding, EM's father demanded that every piece of girl's clothing he owned be burned. He also issued a dire warning any future sightings of his son wearing or keeping female attire would be met with severe consequences. If m he valued the ability to walk without crutches,

he'd do what he was told. From here on out, he would become more masculine. Distraught at the ultimatum, M made the decision to leave home and make his way westward. By the spring of eighteen sixty seven, M's travels brought him to Grand Isle, Nebraska, where he found a job driving a team of horses while a railroad was being built. As the fall arrived, he ventured out onto the Nebraska prairie and took up buffalo hunting and staying true to himself,

he privately continued to dress in women's clothing. In his own words, he said that when he dressed as a woman, he experienced enhanced logical thinking, a liberated sense of being, and an ability to solve complex problems that eluded him under different circumstances. He'd run away west and found a better life, but m still desperately wanted the freedom to wear women's clothing Whenever he chose Unfortunately, he knew he'd be ridiculed or worse. His adventures on the frontier came

in many forms and jobs. He was once a sheriff, a newspaper publisher, a justice of the peace, and a detective for the U. S. Marshal's Office. M proudly declared his contribution to westward expansion. His legs carried the scars of bullets, wounds he had covered with petticoats. Whenever the opportunity arose, Despite the dangers presented, all his troubles seemed to fade away when he dressed in the clothing he preferred.

Will likely never know M's true identity, but we do know that even in the Wild West, where we've painted a picture of the most square jawed and masculine men in the vein of John Wayne, in real life there were those who had to pretend to be someone they were not, and a fortunate view were able to live an authentic life, regardless of the secrets they felt compelled to hide.

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