If your interested here is Eliza's report on Annie Oakley:Annie Oakley
Hello my name is Annie Oakley and I’m a sharp shooter. I was born in Woodland Ohio on August 13, 1860. My real name is Phoebe Ann Moses. I died on November 3, 1926.
When I was 5 my dad died of pneumonia. When I got a little older my family was running low on money for food. I started to hunt and shoot animals for food so my family could eat. When I was 10 years old I was sent to work at Darke County Infirmary. I was sent there because my mom didn’t want me hunting. My mother wanted me to grow up and be a lady.
When I was 15 I started doing “Turkey Shoots” which is a contest of shooting paper targets for money. I was so good at it that eventually they wouldn’t let me compete for money anymore. One of the hotel mangers that I sold game foul to came up with the idea of putting me in a shooting match. The winner of the shoot off would get $100. That was a lot of money in those days! What I didn’t know was that I would be competing against a professional sharpshooter, a man named Frank Butler. He was so surprised we he saw that his opponent was a little girl. I was nervous but hit each of the flying targets perfectly. I got a perfect score of 25 and won the match. Not only did I win the shoot out but I won Frank Butler’s heart too. Not even a year later we were married. Frank and I started doing shows and toured the Midwest as Butler and Oakley. Later we also joined the circus. Then we did Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
While doing Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, I became very popular. People loved to come watch me, a woman, hit every target perfectly. I could shoot off a horse sidesaddle or standing up. I could shoot 11 glass balls with 5 guns in 10 seconds. When I missed, I would scowl and stomp my foot, then I would try a harder shot, like shooting while looking through a mirror or laying down and upside down on some chairs. As the star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, I traveled all across the United States, and later I toured London and Europe. I became friends with people like, Chief Sitting Bull who considered me as a daughter, the Queen of England and her son the Prince. I saved the Prince of Bavaria’s Life and was the star of Paris. After returning home to the United States, I appeared in plays and many more shows. I even did many shows for charities to help raise money for those less fortunate then me, always with Frank by my side.
I was in an automobile accident in 1922 and after a year and a half I performed again and set even more records. In 1925 my health declined and I died on November 3rd, 1926 ,at the age of 66, of pernicious anemia. Frank stopped eating and died 18 days after me. We are buried together, side by side, in Ohio a few miles from where I was born.
I made my way as a woman in a time when women were not seen as able to do things for themselves. I was the first American female superstar and I paved the way for many women to follow after. I taught more then 15,000 women how to shoot and I did all for free. I fought the newspapers of my time for the lies they wrote about me and paved a way for others to stand up for themselves and protect their good name. I used the wealth I earned as a performer to do good in the world I lived in. For example, I had the gold in the medals I won melted down to help fund the treatment of tuberculosis. I quietly paid for the college education of 19 orphan girls. When I died, it was discovered that Frank and I had spent our entire fortune on our family and our charities.
I picked Annie Oakley because I think she was an amazing woman. Not only was she really talented, but she was incredibly generous. She didn’t drink or smoke or curse. In her day, performers were not always thought of as respectable. Annie took special care of her name and image of a respectable woman who was capable of taking care of herself. She and Frank were great role models.
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