Gowongo Mohawk (1859-1924) was one of the first Indigenous women to appear on an American stage, and the first Native male impersonator.
Gowongo Mohawk (1859-1924) was one of the first Indigenous women to appear on an American stage, and the first Native male impersonator.
Special thanks to our exclusive Pride Month sponsor, Mercedes-Benz! Mercedes-Benz continues to support and stand with the LGBTQIA+ community. Listen all month long as we celebrate women whose authentic expression in their lives and bodies of work have expanded the norms of gender and sexuality in the performing arts.
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Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Carmen Borca-Carrillo, and this is Womanica.
June is Pride Month, and to celebrate, we’re highlighting queer stars of the stage and screen. They’re women who expanded the norms of gender and sexuality in the limelight, and behind the scenes. I helped curate the month, and I’m so excited to guest host this episode.
Today, we’re talking about one of the first Indigenous women to appear on an American stage, and the first Native male impersonator.
Let’s talk about Gowongo Mohawk.
Gowongo was born on a Seneca reservation, in Western New York, in 1859. She was also given an English name – Caroline Mohawk – and went by Carrie in her early years. Her father was a medicine man. To the surrounding community, he was known as Dr. Alan, a popular doctor and talented horseman.
Gowongo’s mother, according to some records, was a white woman, Lydia Hale.
Not much is known about Gowongo’s early years. The details we do have mostly come from interviews and articles, which often used her background, and her identity, for publicity stunts.
But here’s what we do know. We know that she grew up riding horses, hunting, fishing, and rowing. We know that her father died when she was nine. She had no brothers or sisters, and she moved to Ohio with her mother after her father’s death. When Gowongo was 12, her mother remarried. Two years later her mother died. Some sources indicate it may have been from abortion complications.
There is some evidence that Gowongo attended a girls school in Ohio, and that it was there that she first caught the acting bug.
When Gowongo was 18, she married James Rider, a 31-year-old Civil War veteran. A few years later, in 1883, she earned a small role in a play, and her acting career took off.
Gowongo appeared onstage in New York and Philadelphia. She met her second husband, Charles W. Charles, working on a show.. They wed, despite each still being married to their former partners.
A lot of Americans, at this time, were infatuated with the Wild West. Frontier plays and traveling shows created a binary of stories: that the west was unoccupied, and free for the taking, or that native people were the aggressors, violent and dangerous to white settlers. Neither, of course, was anywhere near the truth.
So after a few years in show business, Gowongo decided to flip the script. In 1888, she wrote the play “Wep-Ton-No-Mah: The Indian Mail Carrier.” It was an action-packed, five-act melodrama, featuring trained horses and knife fights. Gowongo cast herself as the male lead. The programs billed her as “The Only Indian Actress, in her great sensational and thrilling picture of frontier life.”
But when the show opened in New York, the first reviews were terrible. Gowongo didn’t fit with white people’s idea of an indigenous person. She was tall and thin and light skinned, and spoke English without an accent.
Despite the reviews, audiences kept coming and in 1892, Gowongo took her play overseas. For the next five years, she toured Europe, and grew into a fierce activist for Native rights. When she came back to the U.S., she performed to sold out theaters.
In 1900, Gowongo took on another role: the male lead in Lincoln Carter’s play, The Flaming Arrow.
Gowongo played White Eagle, competing for the heart of the fort commander’s daughter, Mary. White Eagle beat back the two other male villains, and won the girl, which hinted at both same-sex and interracial couples.
Gowongo broke barriers as the first Native male impersonator. And not just that, but as a Native hero, in a period when indigenous people were treated as the enemy.
Gowongo died in 1924. Her childhood home, in Greene, New York, is now a historical monument.
All month we’re talking about pride on stage.
For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator.
Talk to you tomorrow!