Was There a Wild West That Needed Taming? Luther Standing Bear (Sioux) Answers

Stories of taming the Wild West lie deep in the mythology of how the United States came to be. But what does it mean to call the West “wild?” Did “white people” tame it? Does the Wild even need taming? The First Peoples who lived in the geographies of the Wild West tell a story quite opposite to American mythology. Luther Standing Bear (1868-1939) was chosen as chief by the Ogalala Sioux in 1902. He authored books and articles that continue to be on college reading lists in anthropology, literature, history, and philosophy. Standing Bear says his people did not think of the West as wild.

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