Raising Gifted Parents
  • Home
  • Define gifted...
  • Lessons
  • About
  • Home
  • Define gifted...
  • Lessons
  • About
Raising Gifted Parents

THE POCAHONTAS MYTH

1/29/2020

 

After the release of the Disney movie Pocahontas, many felt the true story was ignored.

The following was written by Chief Roy Crazy Horse and appeared on the www.powhatan.org website that is no longer published. It has been shortened for ease of readability by students, some vocabulary has been simplified, grammar and spelling errors have been fixed, and images added for visual appeal.

"Pocahontas" was a nickname, meaning "the naughty one" or "spoiled child." Her real name was Matoaka. The legend is that she saved a heroic John Smith from being clubbed to death by her father in 1607—she would have been about 10 or 11 at the time. The truth is that Smith's fellow colonists described him as an abrasive, ambitious, self-promoting mercenary soldier.

Of all of Powhatan's children, only "Pocahontas" is known, mostly because she became the hero of Euro-Americans as the "good Indian," one who saved the life of a white man. Not only is the "good Indian/bad Indian theme" given new life by Disney, but the history, as recorded by the English themselves, is false, written more in the name of "entertainment" than truth.

The first time John Smith told the story about this rescue was 17 years after it happened, and it was but one of three reported by Smith [who was known to brag] claiming he was saved from death by a famous woman.

Pocahontas saves John Smith
Pocahontas Saves the Life of Captain John Smith by Johann Friedrich Engel. In the public domain. Wikimedia Commons
Yet in an account Smith wrote after his winter stay with Powhatan's people, he never mentioned such an incident. In fact, the starving adventurer reported he had been kept comfortable and treated in a friendly fashion as an honored guest of Powhatan and Powhatan's brothers. Most scholars think the "Pocahontas incident" would have been highly unlikely, especially since it was part of a longer account used as reason to wage war on Powhatan's Nation.

Euro-Americans must ask themselves why it has been so important to raise Smith's fibbing to status as a national myth worthy of being recycled again by Disney. Disney even improves upon it by changing Pocahontas from a little girl into a young woman.
Pocahontas
By Simon van de Passe, 1616. Image in the United States Public Domain, Library of Congress
The true Pocahontas story has a sad ending. In 1612, at the age of 17, Pocahontas was treacherously taken prisoner by the English while she was on a social visit, and was held hostage at Jamestown for over a year.

During her captivity, a 28-year-old widower named John Rolfe took a "special interest" in the attractive young prisoner. As a condition of her release, she agreed to marry Rolfe, who the world can thank for commercializing tobacco. Thus, in April 1614, Matoaka, also known as "Pocahontas," daughter of Chief Powhatan, became "Rebecca Rolfe." Shortly after, they had a son, whom they named Thomas Rolfe. The descendants of Pocahontas and John Rolfe were known as the "Red Rolfes."
Two years later on the spring of 1616, Rolfe took her to England where the Virginia Company of London used her in their propaganda campaign to support the colony. She was wined and dined and taken to theaters. It was recorded that on one occasion when she encountered John Smith (who was also in London at the time), she was so furious with him that she turned her back to him, hid her face, and went off by herself for several hours. Later, in a second encounter, she called him a liar and showed him the door.

Rolfe, his young wife, and their son set off for Virginia in March of 1617, but "Rebecca" had to be taken off the ship at Gravesend. She died there on March 21, 1617 at the age of 21. She was buried at Gravesend, but the grave was destroyed in a reconstruction of the church. It was only after her death and her fame in London society that Smith found it convenient to invent the tall tale that she had rescued him.

History tells the rest. Chief Powhatan died the following spring of 1618. The people of Smith and Rolfe turned upon the people who had shared their resources with them and had shown them friendship. During Pocahontas' generation, Powhatan's people were killed by warfare and disease and those left were forced to leave their lands. A clear pattern had been set which would soon spread across the American continent.

Chief Roy Crazy Horse

Picture
This article was reproduced here to accompany my hyperdoc book project for the book Blood on the River. Other hyperdoc book projects can be found at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

THE VOYAGE TO JAMESTOWN

1/28/2020

 
The following is an excerpt from a webpage that is no longer published: https://web.archive.org/web/20141110085859/http://ab.mec.edu/jamestown/shiplife.html

On December 20, 1606 three English ships, the Susan Constant, the Godspeed and the Discovery, set sail from London with a total of 144 men and boys to establish the settlement in Virginia. Information from previous explorations indicated that this journey would normally take about two months. However, this first voyage took four and a half months due to poor trade wind conditions and ocean currents. In fact, for the first six weeks, they were stuck just off the coast of England and could see the shore from which they just left.
Picture
Wikimedia Commons
A replica of the Susan Constant in Jamestown, Virginia.

Lack of storage space and inadequate preservation limited the types of food that could be carried on the ships. Most food was preserved by salting, drying, or pickling in vinegar. On long voyages, much food became spoiled—the biscuits moldy, the meat full of maggots, the beer watery, and water fouled. If the ship passed by land it usually would stop for fresh provisions as they did during the this voyage. The ships stopped in the Canary Islands and several islands in the Caribbean where they were able to get fish, birds, sea tortoises, wild boars, fruits, and vegetables. Food could only be cooked at sea if the weather was calm. An unbalanced diet, poor nutrition and spoiled rations often lead to much sickness.




History Channel. “2:20 / 2:55 America the Story of Us: Life in Jamestown.” YouTube, YouTube, 23 Apr. 2010, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssS6UoBoiuc.

John, Smith. “Captain John Smith Describes the Voyage of the First Jamestown Colonists - American Memory Timeline- Classroom Presentation: Teacher
        Resources.” Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/timeline/colonial/jamestwn
        /colonist.html.


Marks, Archibald Andrew. “Jamestown Questions and Answers.” Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.
Warfieldian. “JamestownShips.” Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Foundation, 15 June 2007, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JamestownShips.jpg.

    Author 

    I often struggle to find websites with thorough explanations in simple language to help kids understand historical events or scientific concepts, so I decided to create some of my own!

    -Cookie Davis

    Archives

    March 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    February 2022
    April 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    September 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    August 2016
    January 2016
    July 2015
    May 2015

    RSS Feed