1909
September 4, 2018 Alexander Dawson
In the early twentieth century, peyotism attracted both fascination and visceral disgust among Americans, who viewed it as either a salubrious Native American religion or a degenerate cult. This chapter recounts an incident where temperance activist William “Pussyfoot” Johnson attempted to buy all peyote in Laredo and burn it symbolically. It also traces the strong opposition from missionaries, Indian Agents, and conservatives as peyotism gained popularity in Native American communities, while examining the origins of peyote religions among those communities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.