E-viri
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TISA WENGER
We Have a Religion, 05/2009Book Chapter
Among the most outspoken critics of Indian dancing in the mid-1920s was William E. “Pussyfoot” Johnson, former chief special officer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and a close associate of the Indian Rights Association. In a widely circulated article published in September 1924, Johnson called for the bia to enforce its own policies against what he called “hidious, obscene and revolting” Indian dances. Singling out the “secret” Pueblo ceremonies for condemnation, he claimed that “boys and girls are stripped naked and herded together entirely nude and encouraged to do the very worst that vileness can suggest,” and he quoted
