In 1883, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West went on tour. The show combined theater, circus, and rodeo. It was inspired by Cody’s experiences as a Pony Express rider and Army scout, and it romanticized an American West that was already disappearing. Spectators flocked to the show, which included a buffalo herd, sharpshooter Annie Oakley, and reenactments of stagecoach robberies. It also featured a band of Native Americans, including Chief Sitting Bull. The Native performers welcomed the chance to leave the reservation and return to riding, and they were paid as well as the white performers.
The show also reinforced stereotypes, with acts depicting Indigenous tribes attacking wagon trains and being defeated by the cavalry. The presence of Native Americans in the show contributed to ongoing debates about assimilation into mainstream American culture.
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West gave its final performance in 1916, but controversy over Native American participation continued. On this date in May 1925, superintendents from eight reservations in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana voiced objections to Native Americans participating in rodeos. They said they “do not want the Indian to be considered as a relic of barbarism.” Instead, they wanted Native people “encouraged to take advantage of the present and face the future with the best his white neighbors can give him.” The superintendents sent a letter to fairs and rodeo associations asking them “to dispense with the service of Indians at the celebrations...We do not want the Indian to be paraded in paint and feathers while he goes back to generations and dances the old savage dances.”
The letter did not persuade all Native Americans to leave the rodeo circuit in favor of farming. Many continued to compete in professional rodeo, and the Indigenous tradition of horsemanship lives on in the Indian National Finals Rodeo, founded in 1976. Members from nearly 100 tribes compete for more than $1 million in prize money. The rodeo also showcases Indigenous culture. One of the most thrilling events is the Indian Relay, in which riders change unsaddled horses for each of three laps, leaping from one galloping horse to another. Donna Hoyt, the rodeo’s general manager and a member of the Blackfeet Nation, says, “Working together, we will continue on as leaders of the horse culture.”
Dakota Datebook written by Dr. Carole Butcher
Sources:
- Bismarck Tribune. “Ask Indians Be Barred From Rodeos.” Bismarck ND. 5/8/2026. Page 3.
- University of North Georgia. “Native American Assimilation through Buffalo Bill's Wild West.” https://arc.ungjournals.org/articles/97Accessed 5/16/2026.
- Smithsonian Magazine. “A Brief History of Rodeo.” https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/brief-history-rodeo-180980341/Accessed 4/16/2026.
