Gowongo Mohawk, 1893 (Grand Theatre)

Born on the Cattaraugus reservation in what is currently New York in 1860, Gowongo Mohawk was a talented athlete and performer. She gained fame around the same time as the Buffalo Bill Wild West Shows, in the 1890s and early 1900s, and she wrote and starred in her own play, “Wep-Ton-No-Mah – the Indian Mail Carrier.” In 1893, she travelled to England and toured for several years, performing here at the Grand Theatre in November of that year (the theatre's main entrance was just to the left of the Grand Theatre pub next door but the building was demolished in 1963).

What was particularly notable about Mohawk’s performances was how she challenged stereotypes about Indigenous women. Mohawk played the title role of an Indigenous man and she also physically challenged expectations of femininity. She was tall and an athletic, performing her own stunts. She said that she decided to act a male role because it “allowed her greater opportunity for riding and wrestling” and audiences loved her performances.