Sitting Bull and Goggles

[Juice Jaws]

My Nov. 2018 True West Magazine on page 25 has a picture of Sitting Bull wearing green goggles. Thought maybe he had a eye problem then Laura Winthrop Johnson met a group of Lakotas in 1875 and several of them were wearing blue goggles, has anyone ever read anything like this??

 

[Claude Mathis]

http://thepoetryofsight.blogspot.com/2012/06/why-sitting-bull-wore-goggles.html

 

[Juice Jaws]

Thanks Claude, I have read a lot about Sitting Bull but this is the first time I have heard about this. I guess a old dog can learn new tricks.

 

[Nativearizonan]

Interesting fashion statement.

Since the Natives had been subjected to all the forces of nature their whole lives, it makes one wonder what would have caused a new circumstance. Gamblers, of course, wear shades to hide their thoughts. Drug users also wear shades, both to hide their dilated pupils, but also because their dilated pupils need more protection from bright lights.

I wonder if the practice of Peyote rituals was spreading through the plains at that point in time? That might explain their sudden desire to wear shades.

Other than that, maybe they were just trying to look at the world differently.

 

[coloradoclyde]

It is possible it was just a fashion statement or emulation. however they may simply have been the sunglasses available. Or they may have had a hereditary condition like Irlen Syndrome (also referred to at times as Meares-Irlen Syndrome, Scotopic Sensitivity Syndrome, and Visual Stress) is a perceptual processing disorder. It is not an optical problem. It is a problem with the brain's ability to process visual information. Tinted glasses, blue in particular help correct this.

 

[pkarr]

Volume 4,Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Journal has an article on the use of goggles in the mountains during the fur trade for protection from the elements, particularly snow blindness and dust.

 

[Juice Jaws]

Volume 4,Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Journal has an article on the use of goggles in the mountains during the fur trade for protection from the elements, particularly snow blindness and dust.

Makes lots of sense now, wish we real knew their every day lives.