Annie Oakley was born in 1860 in a small town in Ohio to a very poor family. Most of her family members were illiterate. Her mother bore several other children, but most didn't make it due to a deadly outbreak of pneumonia. Left with few other options, Oakley was later moved to an orphanage and was separated from her siblings. There, however, she was given a basic education in exchange for helping with the younger children. When she graduated from the orphanage at the age of 13 or 14, she moved in with her old family. To help pay her family's bills, she hunted game and sold them. She was so good at this that she was promoted to hunt for a grocery store that sold to hotels and restaurants. It was with one particularly satisfied hotel owner that she was invited to a sharpshooting competition with her future husband, Frank Butler. She won the competition, but the two remained in love and were married.
Annie and her husband traveled across stages throughout America to perform their sharpshooting. In a performance in St. Paul, Minnesota, she ended up befriending famous Lakota chief Sitting Bull. He was impressed with her deadly accuracy and ended up dubbing her "Little Sure Shot" - a nickname that would stick with her during her career on stage. After a short spell in the circus, Oakley and Butler decided to join Buffalo Bill's Wild West, a performing company that reenacted the battle at Little Big Horn and other rodeo-like spectacles. She was so successful that she even performed for the Queen of England. Oakley's success was also a success for all white women across America. She was breaking gender stereotypes by not only wielding a weapon with deadly accuracy but also sharing the limelight with her husband (when he managed to make it out of her shadow).
After a short break from show business, Mrs. Butler had almost concrete plans to expand her success. She was being pitched an idea for a major motion picture (with sound), but unfortunately, a car crash severely injured her and her husband. However, the role of Annie Oakley in Annie, Get Your Gun! (a movie musical about Annie Oakley and her performance career)was played by Betty Hutton. The movie, like Oakley's career, was a big success.
https://centerofthewest.org/explore/buffalo-bill/research/annie-oakley/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042200/
Sophia, I think that this is a very good example of the way that some women were able to break the standard views of women. I really like that this is something different from what we usually read about men.
ReplyDeleteThis was so interesting to read because of Oakley's success in a time where women were forced to be domesticated and silenced in the household. She broke this boundary by being so wildly successful in both hunting and performing, something that most American women would be ridiculed and attacked for.
ReplyDeleteThis was a really interesting blog, I think it's awesome that Annie was recognized by Sitting Bull. She was a really inspirational figure for women at a time when they were mostly confined to the domestic sphere.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you talked about how her life and accomplishments not only tied in with breaking stereotypes of women, but also into the topics we discussed in class (Sitting Bull). I also thought it was interesting how they decided to make a musical based off her life.
ReplyDeleteLove this post! All I knew about Annie Oakley before was that she was the one Annie get yer gun was about. I think it's so cool how she helped out younger kids at the orphanage, and how she got her start just trying to make money by shooting game, and became a huge sharp-shooting star. I also liked how you talked about sharing the limelight with her husband when HE was able to get out of her shadow. She was the real star of the show! This was a super cool post, and a great piece of lesser known history.
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