Skip to main content

H.H., Female, Age 20



Exhibit: Restraints

Inmates were let out occasionally on the weekend as a reward for good behavior. Being in jail, of course, provided a need for female companionship when they were let out. Prostitution became a promising business for many young women. The men, being lonely and far from their families, often did not treat the young women in an honorable fashion. No females are mentioned by name, but there was one informational panel that gave an overview of the prostitution situation. 


Exhibit: Jail Hospital Cell

Initially, female and male prisoners alike were housed in the same quarters. As Fort Smith started growing, however, they moved the women to the jail hospital on the second floor. Additionally, only a few female criminals are mentioned by name at any point in the museum. One informational panel in the back corner of the second floor discusses the general treatment of women during their time of incarceration. They were given tasks to do that generally were deemed “ladies work” such as mending blankets and clothing (for the men, of course) and cooking. This treatment might seem fair to some; after all, doing work could be punishment for the incarcerated. Compared, though, to the men that did nothing except live in the jail, the treatment is unequal.

Exhibit Detail: Judge Parker's Courtroom

The judges were all men. The lawyers were all men. The female inmates were raped by male guards. Were the guards found guilty? Of course not. Record book after record book recounts trials where cases involving only men were judged fairly, with equal weight given to both sides. The women, though, had almost no credibility, making it difficult to go to trial against a man. Additonally, any women noted as working for the government is named and immediately after, her relation to a man is given, with no credit given to the work she did (although the women were often secretaries). The mens’ descriptions give an account of their job and maybe a notable case they were involved in. This lopsided recounting of history gives the present generation the impression that women were not present in the “Wild West” days of Fort Smith, when that’s simply not the case.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

DR, Female, Age 24

Exhibit: Lady Desperado  One of the pieces that stood out to me the most was the section about Belle Starr. She is the only female with her own section in the museum compared to the numerous displays dedicated to men. I noticed that in this particular section her physical appearance is used to describe her, and she is referred to as “flamboyant” and compared to Cleopatra. Out of all of the plaques with men on them none of them described what they looked like, dressed like, or how they drew attention to themselves like hers did. They were remarked on for their accomplishments or their wrong doings, but she is noted for how she looked.  Exhibit Detail: Photo of Belle Starr Another point concerning the Belle Starr section is that any time she is mentioned so are the men in her life. This particular picture shows her picture with a short description underneath that talks about her brother and her father. The museum uses her pictures and titles the boards with h...
Post a Comment
Read more

K.K., Male, Age 24

Exhibit: Belle Starr--Bandit Queen After viewing this photo, I realized that women maybe weren’t as incarcerated as commonly as men were. The caption states that the only time she went to jail was for one occasion of horse theft. I’m thinking that maybe people in that time didn’t see women criminals as serious threats to society as commonly as men were. Now that I think more about it, that’s probably a major advantage if you’re going to be known as a “Bandit Queen.” Exhibit: The Workings of the Court The thing that stuck out to me in this picture is that it was not ever often in that time for a woman to be in a major position of power. It seems like you would always see women in supportive roles rather than leadership roles. All throughout this exhibit we see several pictures of noteworthy men but not a lot of women. It is inspiring to me as I think about how far we have come today. Exhibit: The Gallows This correlates with the first picture pretty well. Hang...
Post a Comment
Read more

DE, Female, Age 24

Exhibit Detail: Members of the U.S. Marshal's staff ca 1900 The first picture I am going to talk about it is called “Women Behind Bar” the picture is suppose to show a women who was arrested and was in a jail cell but you can just barely she the women because there is a group of men standing right in front of the building that cover her up. Some of the picture would talk about what the guy did to be jailed but with this particular woman we have no back-story. Also the descriptions of the picture say “note” like it is giving up extra information about a picture of the men but this picture was actual about the women who were arrested.   Exhibit: Belle Starr--Bandit Queen This next picture is about a Famous women named Belle Starr, It is talking about all she had accomplished and important people in her life, her Son was photographed and named they even talk a little about him. Then there is a picture of Belle Starr with her friends and the friends...
Post a Comment
Read more