The Wild West

The Wild West?

Source A

A still from a 1930s film showing a re-enactment/ interpretation of an attack on a Wagon Train.

The last Apache Warrior, Geronimo, died in 1909, so the 'Wild West' was still very much a part of the culture of my childhood in the 1950s. We played 'cowboys and indians' (the boys made the girls play the 'Indians' so they could be on the 'winning' side), I read about 'Indian' massacres in my Hotspur comic and – on those boring Sunday afternoons when I was not allowed to go out to play – there was usually a black-and-white 'western' on the TV.

Source A shows a typical scene from one of those old movies. The stories were fairly much standard: a handsome hero, a fragile heroine, a slimy villain, a dangerous wagon train journey attacked by 'Indians', and the cavalry arriving at the last minute to save the day.

I can remember questioning at the time how ill-judged those attacks were, riding round in circles whooping ... and waiting to be shot.

The child me did not realise that EVERYTHING he was being told about the events of that time was racist and factually incorrect.

A Note about Names

There is considerable doubt about what name to use for the people who inhabited the north American continent (which they call 'Turtle Island') before the Europeans came.

Most living Indigenous People prefer to be named by their nation/tribe, but sometimes it is necessary to use a collective noun. In such case:

many older Indigenous People prefer 'Indian', because it is what they grew up with, but it is factually incorrect and derives from Columbus's mistaken belief that he had sailed across the Atlantic to India.
many younger Indigenous People use 'Native American', although the Indigenous People inhabited the land for millennia BEFORE it was ever called 'America'.
you will sometimes meet the word 'Amerindian', a term invented by anthropologists in the early 20th Century.

The problem with ALL these terms is that they are names GIVEN to the Indigenous Peoples by their conquerors/ colonisers, and therefore "oppressive, counterfeit identities" which have "contributed greatly to the maginalisation of First Nations peoples" (Sierra Adadre, 2005)..

Generally, if you use 'Indian' or 'Native American', you are not going to offend most Indigenous People. The most respectful term, however, imho, is 'Indigenous Nations', but both 'Indian' and 'Native American' are used in your AQA specification.

Did You Know

Until the Second World War, many of the actors, most of the stuntmen & extras – and indeed many of the props (e.g. wagons) used in the films – were from the 'Wild West', having moved to Hollywood for a job when the real 'Wild West' came to an end.

Consider:

On Youtube, watch this clip from the 1963 film Wagon Train. Imagine for the moment that this was the ONLY source on the American West.

1. Make notes on how the film clip portrays:
• the environment/ landscape
• the 'Indians'
• the settlers
• the battle.

2. Make notes on the moral culture portrayed in the film.

3. Use what you have noticed to write 250 words on: 'Wagon Train; a 1963 interpretation of the American West'. Finish with a paragraph about how valid this interpretation is likely to be, given its provenance and intentions.