Re: Pocahontas facts?

[Melissa Davis <mbdavis@TENET.EDU>]

I have not, and do not intend to, see Disney's revisionist version of
Pocahontas. I don't care to financially reward such alterations of
history.

Regarding the previous post expressing the Native American viewpoint, I
don't know whether the poster's facts were correct or not. Below is what I
found tonight on the _Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia_, 1993 (release 6).
I already knew that she DID NOT marry John Smith but John Rolfe. That
rewrite alone is enough to bring the entire script into question for me,
since this is not a "minor detail" and is something easily checked.

I would strongly question any teacher using this movie with their class,
unless they are using it to illustrate how you have to question the things
you see.
        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        Melissa Davis                   Librarian
        Splendora Middle School         Splendora I.S.D.
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        Internet: mbdavis@tenet.edu     PHONE: (713)689-2853
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Copyright - 1993 Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc.

Pocahontas

An American Indian princess, Pocahontas, b. c.1595, d. Mar. 21, 1617,
supposedly saved the life of Capt. John SMITH and befriended the English
colony at JAMESTOWN, Va. A daughter of Powhatan, chief of the POWHATAN
confederacy of Virginia, she was said to have been beautiful and
intelligent. Her personal clan name was Matoaka.

In 1608, Smith, who had helped establish the English settlement at
Jamestown, was captured by the Indians and brought to Pocahontas's
village, about 24 km (15 mi) from Jamestown. According to Smith's account
in his Generall Historie of Virginia (1624), he was set before an altar
stone to be killed but was spared when Pocahontas threw herself over his
body. Many historians have been skeptical about Smith's story, however.
Pocahontas then became the intermediary between the Englishman and her
father and reportedly persuaded Powhatan to bring food to the starving
colonists.

In 1613, Pocahontas was seized by Capt. Samuel Argall and taken to
Jamestown and then to the new community of Henrico. From the Reverend
Alexander Whitaker she learned the elements of Christianity and became a
convert. Pocahontas also learned the ways of the English, and in 1614,
with her father's approval, she married John ROLFE, a successful tobacco
planter. The marriage initiated an eight-year period of peaceful relations
between Indians and settlers. A boy, christened Thomas, was born to the
couple in 1615. The following year Pocahontas (now Lady Rebecca Rolfe),
her family, and an Indian retinue voyaged to England. Pocahontas charmed
London society and was entertained at the royal palace at Whitehall. While
preparing to return to the New World, she was overcome by illness and
died.

Daniel Jacobson

Bibliography:
   Barbour, Philip L., Pocahontas and Her World (1970);
   Mossiker, Frances, Pocahontas: The Life and the Legend (1976);
   Woodward, Grace S., Pocahontas (1969; repr. 1976).


John Rolfe

John Rolfe, b. 1585, was one of the first English settlers in Virginia. He
went to the colony of JAMESTOWN around 1610 and is credited with
developing the strain of tobacco that became Virginia's staple crop. In
1614 he married the Indian princess POCAHONTAS, whom he later took to
England. After her death (1617), Rolfe returned to America, where he was
killed in a war with the POWHATAN Indians in 1622.


John Smith

[snip]
While exploring (December 1607) the Chickahominy River, Smith was
captured by Algonquian Indians and taken to their chief, POWHATAN.
Although the precise details of their encounter remain clouded in myth, it
appears that Smith was saved from execution by Powhatan's 13-year-old
daughter POCAHONTAS, who later facilitated Smith's initiation into the
tribe.  By the autumn of 1608, Smith had been elected president of the
governing council of Virginia and was instrumental in securing corn from
the Indians for the starving settlers.  Smith left Virginia in October
1609.  Five years later he became active in the initial exploration of New
England.
[snip]

Bibliography:
   Barbour, Philip L., The Three Worlds of Captain John Smith (1964);
   Emerson, Everett, H., Captain John Smith (1971);
   Fox, Joseph I., Captain John Smith (1985);
   Gerson, Noel B., The Glorious Scoundrel:  A Biography of
      Captain John Smith (1978);
   Kupperman, K. O., ed., Captain John Smith:  A Select Edition
      of His Writings (1988);
   Lankford, John, ed., Captain John Smith's America (1967);
   Lemay, J. A., The American Dream of Captain John Smith (1991).