James Earle Fraser’s "The End of the Trail" depicts a weary American Indian on horseback, hanging his head low in submission to the inevitable end of a trail that had no destination- the end of a once powerful way of life for Native Americans.
When "The End of the Trail" was first exhibited 1n Paris (1908) and later at Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show (1915) and the National Gallery (1976), viewers understood its message right away- Native Americans faced cultural decay and annihilation due to colonialism, warfare, disease, assimilation policies, etc,. In essence, the sculpture symbolized what critics often referred to as “The Vanishing Race.”