Alexandra Arellano

History 499
December 6, 2017
  Even though Annie Oakley was born in the East,
she contributed to images of the West throughout
THESIS her legacy, by challenging social and gender
roles for women in ways that allowed them to
have freedom from traditional expectations.
 Turner’s frontier thesis, historical issue of women in the frontier.
 The domestic housewife
 The deconstruction of gender
 How did Annie Oakley challenge, Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis?
 Was she just a famed performer?
 What was the reality of the west and what was the myth?
 How did the life of Annie Oakley influence, threated social and gender roles of the
typical women of her time?
 Her lasting impact on women and the West
 The West provided women with new opportunities , however
there were still women who fit the stereotypical housewife
 Historiography of the West was revisited to included the
various roles women had.
 Sandra L. Myres’, Westering Women and the Frontier
Experience, 1800-1915
 Dee Brown’s, Gentle Tamers: Women of The Old West

 Lisa Bernd’s, Annie Oakley and the Disruption of Victorian

Expectation
 In popular myth, women’s roles were defined
by men, but women created their own West.
 Annie Oakley’s reality was that she tackled the
man’s frontier.
 The American west is male

 Annie Oakley was an important contribution to

the reality of West
 “She was simply the best at capturing the
publics imagination”
 Although Annie Oakley was born in the East she had the traits of the West. She
gained popularity when shooting became a form of entertainment
 Through grit and grace, Annie Oakley’s skills helped shaped people’s beliefs of the
West
 With hard work and honesty, her skills captivated “western womanhood”

 Creation of a cowgirl, related to ideas of gender

 She did not fit in the ”Victorian ideal”

 Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show

 Champion Rifle Shot – National Police Gazette
She challenged the traditional domestic housewife.
 Annie Oakley independently faced the man’s frontier
 She influenced and threatened social and gender roles of
the typical woman
 She lived during the period of shifting gender roles and
relationships, changing the American West
 She believed women could shoot as well as men
 Annie Oakley kept her personal life very private

 Primary sources were extremely hard to obtain

 Newspapers, letters, pictures, snippets of her autobiography

 Secondary sources were easier to find

 Articles, Books