The American Indian Exposition, held annually during the first full week in August at the Caddo County Fairgrounds in Anadarko, Oklahoma, is one of the oldest and largest intertribal gatherings in the United States.
Sponsored by fifteen tribes (Apache, Arapaho, Caddo, Cheyenne, Comanche, Delaware, Fort Sill Apache, Iowa, Kiowa, Osage, Otoe-Missouri, Pawnee, Ponca, Sac & Fox, and Wichita), representatives from up to fifty other tribes participate in any given year.
A group of people calling themselves the Southwest Indian Fair (SWIF) had met after the Caddo County Free Fair in 1935 to discuss their dissatisfaction with the Craterville Park demonstrations of Indian culture, which they felt was too ethnocentric and white-oriented.
The title "Miss American Indian Exposition," came into existence in the 1930s, when a young woman, Imogene Carter, was selected to represent the AIE.
To promote education, the title holder would be expected to serve as a mentor for young women, and the winner each year would receive a scholarship.