Beef Issue at Fort Sill

T.C. Cannon's work embodied the activism, cultural transition, and creative expression that defined America in the 1960s and 70s.

During the reservation era, the Kiowa people in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) received beef rations from the U.S. government near the Fort Sill Army post. Native women butchered the animal as they previously had buffalo. However, the rations received were often of poor quality, represented in this painting by an emaciated cow. T.C. Cannon represented the diverse experiences of Indigenous people through artwork in many media, making him a voice of a generation.