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Event
"It is Here the Romance of My Life Began": The Construction of Frontier Masculinity in Late-Nineteenth- and Early-Twentieth-Century America, An Illustrated Lecture with Michael McMenamin
Date: Thursday, September 17th
Time: 8pm
Admission: $8
Location: Morbid Anatomy Museum, 424 Third Avenue, 11215 Brooklyn NY
Guns blazing, Buffalo Bill and his band of rough riders gallop through a Native American camp to rescue their white brethren who have been held captive by their Indian enemies. This dramatized scene from his Wild West show attracted major audiences across the United States and Europe in the late nineteenth century. Indeed, Buffalo Bill represented a popular image of a white, masculine frontiersman that politicians like Theodore Roosevelt and artists like Frederic Remington also upheld in various forms.
However, as the nineteenth century transitioned into the twentieth century, a variety of historical developments, including industrialization, immigration, and the close of the frontier, all contributed to a sense of anxiety felt by many white, American men about their manhood. As such, this period, specifically 1880 to 1910, serves as a useful era to investigate alternative expressions of masculinity on the frontier. Ranch hands shared blankets while sleeping together beneath the stars; a black frontiersman achieved prominence for his skills as a leader; and one member of the Eastern elite indulged his carnal appetite by eating a piece of raw meat on a hunting expedition. By examining a variety of experiences on the frontier, this presentation presents a more representative account of masculinity in the West.
Michael McMenamin graduated Summa Cum Laude from Fordham University in 2014 with a degree in American Studies and Art History. He is the recipient of the Orestes Brownson Award in American Studies and his work has been published in New Errands Journal. Currently, he works in the collections department at the Museum of the City of New York.
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LocationMorbid Anatomy Museum (View)
424 A Third Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11215
United States
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