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. Hanging was a common sentence back in this time. The kiosk in front of these gallows says that over a period of 160 years, only 4 women were sentenced to hanging. I think the most interesting part of the exhibit was the jail part on the upper floor (didn’t get a picture for some reason). For the male prisoners you had a 3 stories of jail cells while the women had only 3 cells in a more run-down fashion. You didn’t really see women portrayed as criminals or remembered as such like their male counterparts.

Comments

VR, Female, Age19

Photo: Unlabeled In this image a crowd of men are the only present during a court. This symbolizes an inequality between both men and females. A difference that has always existed leading to the female gender to be seen as the weakest. Jury trials at this time were of great importance, but the fact that only man are present to give their opinion. That displays a powerful message. Is a women's opinion less valuable than that of a male? Even today, we hardly ever see women involved in political positions, or in important platforms. Society calls for a change. Just like the women at this time, women today deserve to have equal opportunities as man, to show what they are capable even if that means sharing a simple opinion at trial. Exhibit Detail: Music Class This image caught my attention, for it was one of the only pictures with women present, in fact, the only picture with all women. However, the description states that most, if not all, of these women are de...

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...

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 we...

Infinitely Obscure Lives: Invisibility of Women in a U.S. Historic Site

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