Life of Black Hawk Production and Publication
Importantly, the fame from Life of Black Hawk extended beyond the text itself and Black Hawk became a celebrity in American culture. Prior to dictating this text, Black Hawk was already a quasi-celebrity from the forced circuit he was led on during his time as a prisoner of war during which he was “subjected to public exhibition during a tour of the eastern cities” (xiv). As was typical during the time, so typical in fact that the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair had multiple ‘human zoos’ for white audiences to see Indigenous peoples from across the world, Black Hawk was similarly subjected to this kind of performance and exhibition (Shahriari). After the production and sale of his text though, his fame transformed into something contained by print culture. He was a frequent subject of portraits, prints, and engravings though it remains unknown if he ever received any material compensation for his published works or his proliferated visual cultural markers (xxv).