TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS — Will Rogers could have played a game of cowboys and Indians all by himself.

While Oklahoma's favorite son earned acclaim on stage, screen, radio and in his newspaper columns for his cowboy feats, he always identified himself first as a Cherokee. Although he had little Cherokee blood, he became known as "the Cherokee Kid" during his performing career.

Amy Ware, who has chosen Rogers as the subject of her dissertation, spoke Friday during the State of Sequoyah Conference, sponsored by the Cherokee Nation's State of Sequoyah Commission at Northeastern State University.

Ware, an assistant instructor at the University of Texas in Austin, hopes to attain her Ph.D. next year. She teaches a course called, "Killing John Wayne: American Indians in Popular Culture." Her multimedia presentation featured clips of Rogers' film and radio performances.

Most of the audience members have no direct experience of Rogers' humor, having been born after his death in a 1935 plane crash. So some of his barbed comments appeared to come as a pleasant surprise, sparking frequent laughter.

"I propose he was culturally a Cherokee, a man who grew up in the nation and whose father was prominent," Ware said.

Rogers was born on the Clem Rogers ranch near Oologah. But, contrary to popular belief, he never lived in Oklahoma. He left the area and began his world travels in 1902, when the area was still Indian Territory.

(The family continued its prominence over the decades. Besides the well-known Will Rogers Jr., Rogers' nephew, Clem McSpadden, represented the 2nd District of Oklahoma in Congress).

Ware described Rogers as a cowboy-Indian hybrid.

"It is a cultural mix the stereotype does not allow," Ware said.

The popular conception pitted cowboys against Indians, she said. In reality, the Indians were more likely to be fighting cavalry, while the cowboys were a mixed-heritage lot, with cowpokes ranging from various white ethnic backgrounds to black, Hispanic and yes, sometimes Indian.

During Rogers' youth, he worked cows on the Dog Iron Ranch where he grew up. He earned acclaim for his roping skills, as evidenced by the short silent film Ware presented, "The Ropin' Fool," shot in 1922. Besides such relatively basic rope work as the "Texas skip," Rogers dazzled audiences by roping horses, by throwing a loop a man and horse could gallop through without touching, and lassoing a man on horseback by the waist, without putting the rope over his head. In the latter case, the horse stepped through the rope and it went up to land around the rider's midsection.

The Rogers were a wealthy family. Both Rogers' parents came to Oklahoma before the Trail of Tears. They intermarried with Scotch and Irish.

Rogers grew up in the wake of the Civil War, and as a 10-year-old was aware of the Oklahoma land fun.

Later he would write, "We spoiled the best territory in the world to make a state."

When he left in 1902, ranching was in decline and the Rogers family was growing wheat. He headed for Argentina, where his desire to become a gaucho was thwarted. During his world travels, he hooked up with a wild west show, made the switch to the Ziegfeld Follies, and headed for Hollywood when it became evident vaudeville was on its way out. He was one of the first Beverly Hills residents, and eventually made 71 silent and sound films.

Ware said that while Rogers served as a conventional actor in many of these films, playing a part, learning lines and following directions, he expressed his creativity as well as his political viewpoints in a few.

One, called "Two Wagons, Both Covered," spoofed the classic "Covered Wagon" and other popular Western epics. The film contained a train of two wagons, headed west, that circled around through territories that appeared suspiciously the same, Ware said. Rogers played two roles in the film, and is almost unrecognizable as a bearded mountain main, a Grizzly Adams sort.

The wagons arrived at the future site of Los Angeles, where the inevitable Indian attack came. But instead of any tribe recorded in historical tomes, the attackers were the dread "Escrow Indians."

These besuited and bowlered, or golf-capped, gentlemen, hiding behind branches and trees, rushed at the settlers, then dropped the greenery to present proposed real estate contracts.

"I'll take the wagon for my first payment," one broker offered, while others described "land swept by ocean breezes" and other amenities. Finally the "Escrow Indians" rode off in triumph with the wagons and cattle, leaving the pioneers standing in a befuddled mass.

Ware said it was ironic that the Cherokees and other Indians promoted communal ownership of land, while the "Escrow Indians" pushed private property.

"In his [Rogers'] version it's not the Indians that are attacking, but the settlers," she said.

Soon, Rogers had his own newspaper column. Ware compared his version of vernacular native dialect with that employed by Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and the renowned Muscogee (Creek} poet Alex Posey, who wrote as Fix Fuxico. She showed comparable passages by the latter and Rogers.

Both rebelled against the "cigar store Indian dialects," she said.

"Many consider Rogers' writing an extension of his stage performance," Ware said.

However, he worked hard to make the language deceptively simple.

Between 1923 and his death, Rogers took his talents to the radio. These shows were known for their spontaneity.

"Recorded live and uncensored, Rogers said what he wanted," Ware said.

He challenged stereotypes of Native Americans, including those related to technology.

"As a political humorist, Rogers often walked the line between acceptable and objectionable," she said.

She played a radio clip that began with a dispute over whether Plymouth Rock or another site was the actual landing place of the Pilgrims. Starting with that perspective, the satire emerged.

"Why were they allowed to land anywhere? That's what we want to know," Rogers said in the clip. "I hope my Cherokee blood is not making you prejudiced."

He spoke of the generosity Indians were known for.

"What if we reversed this?" he said. "Do you think the Pilgrims would have allowed the Indians to land? The Pilgrims would not even allow the Indians to live after the Indians let them land."

"This tangent is the meat of the story," Ware said. "He wanders through it, probing the boundaries just enough to make the audience nervous."

She compared Rogers' effect on his audience to that of Richard Pryor in later years.

Ware said there is much more to Rogers' life and career than could be covered in the time allotted to her.

"It matters that Rogers was Cherokee. His career offers the opportunity to study national and Cherokee history simultaneously," she said.

He provides proof that the Cherokee culture moves beyond tribal boundaries, she said.

"Rogers is just now coming into his own as a native player on the national stage," she said.