The Performance of Self: The Story of Cora Youngblood Corson

Abstract

In the early twentieth century, the name Cora Youngblood Corson regularly appeared in newspapers and magazines around the world. She was a fixture on the concert stage and vaudeville circuits. As a euphonium and tuba player, she was praised as being one of the greats of her time. She was a woman of high class who became independently wealthy, moved in the rarified world of celebrities, and her endorsements drove sales of musical instruments. Performing in full tribal regalia as a Native American she subverted cultural stereotypes by portraying Natives as modern entertainers rather than people of the past. Crowds flocked to theaters to see this Native woman who grew up on the plains of Oklahoma perform Indian songs, opera, and jazz with skill unmatched by any other. However, Cora had no Native heritage. Cora Youngblood Corson’s life exemplifies another form of defrauding Native Americans in Oklahoma. Her ability to continually reinvented herself by manipulating racial, national, and class representations to remain unique in vaudeville highlights a seldom discussed form of representation of self.