Why am I so fascinated with the history of cowgirls when I’m not one myself?
Five reasons.
- They were wildly famous and yet, other than Annie Oakley, not many of them are known today.
- They lived a double life, performing on the Wild West circuit on the same day they took tea with the city’s society women.
- They lived beyond expectations for women of the day.
- Their lives were exciting and historic.
- And finally, their legacy has been enduring.
The early cowgirls were some of the first female athletes. They competed head-on with men, and they did everything men did in the Wild West shows. Other women at the time envied their freedom to travel and compete, their freedom to participate in vigorous exercise—outdoors!! They were professionals who were paid almost as much as the men they rode with. Scandalous!
At the same time, the early cowgirls were the epitome of feminism. They rode their horses astride dressed in big-brimmed hats, boots, decorated gloves, and split leather skirts adorned with swinging fringe, beads, and feathers. They dressed in colorful, fanciful outfits for the arena and a few hours later donned a proper city dress and hat to have tea with society women.
Men and women admired the cowgirls for their spunk, and little girls wanted to grow up to be cowgirls.
They exuded the all-American notion of self-reliance and grit.
As Mary Lou LeCompte notes in her book, Cowgirls of the Rodeo, “Cowgirls came from a special segment of the population. Most were…from ranches west of the ninety-eighth meridian. Until World War II, virtually all were working-class, first- or second-generation Americans with no more than an eighth-grade education. As a matter of economic necessity, they grew up roping, riding, and working on their family ranches.”
This unique environment created by the cowgirls of the Wild West contributed to the development of the heroic women who followed them.
Today’s Cowboy Slang:
Let Out – To begin a story or narrative.
Two cowgirls posed with their horses during the Buffalo Bill West in 1912.