wild grace

For the pioneers and daredevils, stunt riders and sharpshooters, hikers and backpackers . . . for all the women who paved the way.

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Cowgirls came from a special segment of the population. Most were and are from ranches west of the ninety-eighth meridian. Until World War II, virtually all were working-class, first- or second-generation Americans with no more than an eighth-grade education. As a matter of economic necessity, they grew up roping, riding, and working on their family ranches. Shelly Armitage calls their home area the 'cattle frontier', and correctly suggests that its unique environment contributed to the development of heroic women.

Cowgirls of the Rodeo: Pioneer Professional Athletes by Mary Lou LeCompte

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Ruth Roach, ca 1919

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Unknown cowgirl and Ruth Roach, ca 1920s

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Ruth Roach, saddle bronc riding, ca 1920s

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Ruth Roach and Mabel Strickland trick riding, ca 1920s

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Dorothy Morrell, photographed by Ralph Doubleday on a bronc named Skuball, ca 1920

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Rodeo cowgirls proved that women could compete in a rough, physically demanding, and theoretically macho sport, endure falls, breaks, and bruises, and still earn the respect and admiration of millions. They showed that athleticism and femininity were not mutually exclusive.

Cowgirls of the Rodeo: Pioneer Professional Athletes by  Mary Lou LeCompte

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Prairie Rose Henderson, ca 1910s

“Prairie Rose was born Ann Robbins, in the 1870s, to a Wyoming ranching couple. She grew up breaking horses for her parents and neighbors and dreamed of becoming a cowgirl. She became one of the first professional women athletes in the world when she won the first Cheyenne Frontier Days race for women in August 23, 1899. The prize: a $45 dollar saddle. By 1906 cowgirls were bronc riding and relay racing. While she was primarily a bronc rider she also participated in relay racing, flat racing, roping and trick riding.” [x]

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Prairie Rose Henderson, saddle bronc riding at Cheyenne Frontier Days, photographed by Ralph Doubleday, ca 1910s

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Prairie Rose Henderson, photographed by Erwin E. Smith, ca 1920s

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But should it matter what we do as long as we use our strength courageously and lead a life without desperation to the end?

Death in Persia by Annemarie Schwarzenbach

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Annemarie Schwarzenbach in Taschkurghan, Afghanistan, ca 1939

“Born in Switzerland in 1908, Annemarie Schwarzenbach grew up in a wealthy industrialist family. She received a doctorate in history from the University of Zurich, and became part of the intellectual and bohemian circles of Berlin. After the 1933 Nazi take-over, she helped finance the anti-fascist literary review Die Sammlung. Pressure led to a suicide attempt, before she decided to leave Germany. Though she earned a reputation for her androgynous style and many love affairs, she also cemented herself as a journalist and writer. She spent 10 years traveling across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, producing some 5,000 photographs, 300 articles, and numerous books. She died in 1942 at the age of 34, after falling from her bicycle and sustaining a head injury. Her conservative mother destroyed many of her letters and diaries. What was left was preserved by a friend, and later acquired by the Swiss Literary Archives.”

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Annemarie Schwarzenbach, looking at ancient ruins in Sant Cugat, Spain, ca 1933

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Annemarie Schwarzenbach, letting a shepherd pass in the Pyrenees, ca 1933

“She traveled with the photographer Marianne Breslauer to Spain, to carry out a report on the Pyrenees. Marianne was fascinated by Annemarie: ‘She was neither a man nor a woman,’ she wrote, ‘but an angel, an archangel.’” [x]

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Annemarie Schwarzenbach, during one of her trips to Persia, ca 1930s

“She went to Persia twice before 1935, and would once more in 1939. Besides writing, she worked on archeology expeditions while there. The experiences would later be used to write the book Death in Persia.”

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Annemarie Schwarzenbach, photographed while traveling, ca 1930s

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Annemarie Schwarzenbach, with her Mercedes Mannheim, ca 1930s