Exhibit in Denver tells story of Filipino cowboys part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West

CBS News

27-01-2025

The history of William "Buffalo Bill" Cody here in Colorado extends all the way to the 1850s. His shows traveled the country in the late 19th century.
What is perhaps lesser known is who was part of that show. Two University of Colorado Boulder professors, Yumi Janairo Roth and Emmanuel David, recently uncovered documents and photos that show a group of cowboys from more than 7,600 miles away joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows. A new exhibit in downtown Denver tells their story.
Signs typically provide information or instructions. But the ones inside the David B Smith Gallery off Wazee Street tell a unique story. The signs, which are beautiful pieces of art, and are handmade from jeepney sign painters in Manila, Philippines.
"A sign like this is probably a two-day sign, a sign like this is probably three or four days," said Roth, as she showed a CBS Colorado crew around the gallery.
The exhibit is titled, "Last Year's Wonders All Surpassed."
"It's about the untold story of the 'Filipino Rough Riders' in Buffalo Bill's Wild West," said David, an Associate Professor of Women and Gender Studies at CU. "They were recruited at the end of the Spanish-American War as examples of the new colonies of the United States."
The exhibit features 130 paintings and a video that tracks the group's touring locations throughout the U.S. in 1899. Buffalo Bill's show was also known worldwide.
"It traveled for nearly 40 years, both in the United States and in Europe and it was viewed by all kinds of political figures, royalty. It was probably the most important Wild West show," said Roth, chair of the Department of Art and Art History at CU.
One of the many takeaways from this exhibit is the historical aspect, said Roth. Originally it was a trio of Filipino Rough Riders. But it eventually increased to eight, said Roth.
"Somebody might walk in here and go like, 'Oh, I'm from Algona, Iowa," said Roth, "And all-of-a-sudden, they create this connection between themselves and this group of Filipinos."
It's believed that the Filipino Rough Riders were originally hired soon after the shadow of the Philippine-American War by Buffalo Bill as part of the "Congress of Rough Riders of the World."
Not part of the exhibit, but part of the professor's research, is a picture showing the actual Filipino Rough Riders. It's one of the only pictures known to exist. On the back of the photo is a note, saying "Remember to Buffalo Bill's wild west, the Filipino group.
October 1900."
"The reporting would cast them as unskilled horse people, but they were also winning these relay races," said David.
Both Yumi and Emmanuel originally wanted to explore more of the background of Filipino immigrants in Colorado. The two started reading newspapers from during that time period, doing research at the Denver Public Library.
"From there we started digging, it kept on unraveling in the sense that we discovered more and more," said David.
What it showed them was something beyond their expectations.
"When you think of the American West, the last thing you think of are Filipinos somehow involved in ideas of the American West," said Roth.
But their research showed that Filipinos were a part of that time period. It even led to both professors to dig more into Philippine ranching culture, which is believed to have come from the country's Spanish colonization for hundreds of years.
"So, for more than a hundred years, there had been a ranching culture prior to the United States coming at various islands in the Philippines," said Roth.
At the gallery in Denver, there are pictures of some of the ranchers from Masbate Island. Every year Filipinos from this region hold a yearly rodeo festival called "Rodeo Masbateno." It's shining a light on this group which would otherwise go unnoticed.
"The media from the time cast them as primitive, savage. And the more we dug into the story, we saw that they have full, rich lives. They tried to keep ties to the Philippines," said David.
The exhibit is open now and runs through Febr. 22 at the in Denver.