A Serious Hualapai Insult

In 1903, female members of the Hualapai tribe wore their hair heavily banged, while the rest of their hair framed their face to cover their cheeks and even their chins. One white photographer, George Wharton James, found out the reason for this hairstyle the hard way: “I wished to make a photograph of a woman I had long known and been friendly with. As her eyes and face were scarcely distinguishable, I took the liberty of putting back the hair from her cheeks. She arose in anger, and for three years refused to speak or meet with me. I had given to her the most serious insult a man could offer to a [Hualapai] woman.”