Killing Narcissa: Race, Gender, and Violence in Recreations of the Whitman Incident

Abstract

Chelsea Vaughn explores the complexities of Narcissa Whitman's portrayal in early-twentieth-century presentations, including the unreleased 1919 silent film Martyrs of Yesterday, and How the West Was Won, a 1923 historical pageant. Such portrayal, Vaughn explains, “offers important insightsonto the often complicated relationship among race, gender, and violence in recounting the early history of the state.” Producers of How the West Was Won and Martyrs of Yesterday chose to repeat popular rhetoric of patriotism and sacrifice in the settling of the Oregon Country — a sentiment that resonated with audience members during the post—World War I era — while attempting to recognize the incident's negative legacy. Both productions reflect the enduring cultural value placed on Whitman as “the mother of U.S. society in the Pacific Northwest and a martyr to the cause of U.S. empire building,” although the producers “ultimately denied the very histories they sought to correct.”