Annie Oakley is a famous markswoman known for her sharpshooting. During her lifetime she traveled with her husband across the country and abroad showing off her skills with a rifle. She became a star in a male-dominated sport, and legendary throughout the world.
Rossa Matilda Richter, stage name Zazel, was an English aerialist and actor who became known as the first human cannonball at the age of 14. She began performing at a very young age, practicing aerial stunts like tightrope walking in an old London church. She took up ballet, gymnastics, and trapeze by the time she was 6 and, at 12, went on tour with a travelling acrobat troupe. In 1877, she was the first person to be fired out of a cannon, before a large crowd at the Royal Aquarium.
She toured Europe and North America with circuses such as Barnum & Bailey, performing tightrope, trapeze, and high dive routines in addition to the human cannonball. Throughout her career, she suffered several accidents and injuries, one of which largely ended her career in 1891.
During time off from the circus, she founded an opera company with her husband, taking singing roles in some of the productions. She also volunteered her time writing and holding exhibitions to promote the life-saving use of safety nets.
Alice Greenough Orr went from being Montana rancher’s daughter to an internationally renowned rodeo performer and organizer. She was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame in Wolf Point, Montana. She is considered “hands down the first rodeo queen.”