This painting shows Sac and Fox warriors on the Great Plains, dancing in honor of a two-spirit woman.
Quote"Dance to the Berdashe is a very funny and amusing scene, which happens once a year or oftener, as they choose, when a feast is given to the 'Berdashe,' as he* is called in French ... who is a man* dressed in woman's clothes, as he* is known to be all his* life, and for extraordinary privileges which he* is known to possess, he* is driven to the most servile and degrading duties, which he* is not allowed to escape; and he* being the only one of the tribe submitting to this disgraceful degradation, is looked upon as medicine and sacred, and a feast is given to him* annually" (Letters and Notes, vol. 2, pp. 210-15, pl. 296). Sketched at the Sauk and Fox village in 1835.
*unfortunately, this was written before the white man learned how to use the right pronouns for trans people.
The point is that the two-spirit woman was "looked upon as medicine and sacred." Never forget that there have been times and places when we were honored and revered, instead of trashed and despised.
