Back when I was in middle school I found a book on my Grandmom’s bookshelf called Annie Oakley and the Wild Wild West, which I read from cover to cover. I loved the idea that a girl like Annie (1860 – 1926) could do something so remarkable that she stood out from everyone else. Annie was, in fact, the first female in America to achieve wide-spread fame.

So, can a sharp shooter who was most famous for touring with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show really be a nerdy chick? Well, she definitely flouted social norms! (See first quote below.) And she worked very hard at her skill, first as a young girl to kill game to support her family, and later to win shooting competitions.  She continued to win competitions into her sixties. She also championed women’s rights.

To find out more about Annie Oakley (born Phoebe Ann Moses), click HERE.

Annie Oakley Quotes:

• My mother…was perfectly horrified when I began shooting and tried to keep me in school, but I would run away and go quail shooting in the woods or trim my dresses with wreaths of wildflowers.
• For me, sitting still is harder than any kind of work.
• Aim at a high mark and you will hit it. No, not the first time, not the second time and maybe not the third. But keep on aiming and keep on shooting for only practice will make you perfect. Finally you’ll hit the bull’s eye of success.
• After traveling through fourteen foreign countries and appearing before all the royalty and nobility I have only one wish today. That is that when my eyes are closed in death that they will bury me back in that quiet little farm land where I was born.
• God intended women to be outside as well as men, and they do not know what they are missing when they stay cooped up in the house.

My personal favorite is the one about sitting still. I can only sit if I am actively doing something.

The photo of Annie Oakley above is in the public domain because its copyright expired.