Unexpected Cowboy, Unexpected Indian: The Case of Will Rogers

Abstract

This brief examination of the early-twentieth-century United States expands academic interpretations of ethnic performance in the popular realm. The case of Will Rogers-Cherokee entertainer, writer, and political pundit-is particularly useful in understanding the representational conflicts, then and now, between cowboys and American Indians in the popular realm. Rogers himself was unexpected; he was both a cowboy and an Indian, a conflation that baffled and titillated his urban fan base. Throughout his early career, from approximately 1903 to 1919, Rogers and his audience grappled with these seemingly conflicting roles of cowboy and Indian, characters steeped in a seeming ethnic conflict yet embodied simultaneously by Rogers. The celebrity's strong ties to Cherokee ranching culture influenced the way he presented himself, yet such performances confounded his fans. In the end, Rogers's self-representation as a cowboy limited the public's recognition of him as an Indian. Around 1904 Will Rogers (1879 posed for a publicity shot that would begin a shockingly successful career in nearly all facets of American popular and political life. A brief examination of that photograph shows Rogers's self-manicured image and visually confirms his ties to cowboys, both real and imagined ( fig. 1). His classic western stance, fringed chaps, cowboy boots, and rope brand him as such. Rogers's citizenship in the Cherokee Nation, however, profoundly complicates this photograph. Is this an Indian or a cowboy? The question is an important one because it challenges outsiders' expectations-then and now-of who (and what) an Indian can be in the popular realm.In a short but provocative essay, Cherokee writer Thomas King explores the implications of Rogers's seemingly paradoxical public image.

Dynamics of indigenous identification and performance in the early twentieth century: The life and performances of Chief Caupolican as Mapuche and immigrant (1876–1968)

“…Native American vaudeville acts presented a continuum that encompassed playing stereotypical Indian characters to performing expressions of US culture not usually associated with indigenous people. Cherokee figure, Will Rogers, is an example of the latter: his performance of cowboy skills, interspersed with humorous political remarks, challenged colonial expectations of what an indigenous person should do and look like (Ware, 2009, 2015). As we will see, Chief Caupolican’s performances expressed both extremes, consisting of a defiant balance between representing a foreign indigenous culture and demonstrating a complete command of skills in Western operatic talent.…”