GEN: Pocahontas...one more post!

[Russell Smith <rssmith@TENET.EDU>]

           I've been away on vacation (and about to go off again!) and just
caught up on last weeks posts. Here was an article I wrote a couple of
weeks ago for my weekly newspaper column. Free use for educators.


                               The Real Pocahontas

By Russell Smith
Special Contributor

     The Internet discussion groups have been buzzing since the release of
the latest Walt Disney blockbuster, Pocahontas. At issue is the historical
accuracy of the film and its educational effect on children.

     As I wrote over five years ago in my column "The Real "Stand and
Deliver,"  does art imitate life? Or does art imitate art? Those questions
are easily answered by Mel Gibson (who is the voice of John Smith in the
cartoon movie). Gibson jovially answers any questions about historical
accuracy by mentioning the fact that any movie with a talking raccoon
surely shouldn't be considered a documentary.

     I haven't seen the film yet, but from what I have seen (movie clips
and graphics I have downloaded from the Internet) and from comments and
reviews it appears that Hollywood veered far from the path of true history
in the tale of Pocahontas.

     Of course if you know that the movie is strictly for entertainment
value then there is no problem. But if kids go and see the movie and never
read the real story then their education is deficient. So encourage your
children to learn the true story of Pocahontas and John Smith.

     Here's a mini lesson about the true Pocahontas and it's a tale worthy
of a real movie, not a cartoon fantasy.

     Pocahontas (which means playful one) was the daughter of a powerful
Indian chief named Powhatan. Her Indian clan name was Matoaka and she was
about 12 years old when the first English settlers arrived in Virginia
early in May of 1607.

     In December of 1608 John Smith was captured by Powhatan's warriors
and was brought to the Indian village. According to John Smith's book
written 18 years later in London he was laid upon an altar stone and the
warriors planned on crushing his skull with stone war clubs. Pocahontas
appealed to her father and his life was spared. Smith's account of this
rescue was omitted in his first written version so historians are
skeptical of the historical accuracy of this incident.

     John Smith was badly burned in a gunpowder explosion and left
Jamestown in October of 1609 and recuperated in London. He later helped
explore the New England coast and drew maps of the area that were later
very helpful to the Pilgrims. In fact he coined the term "New England"
and his books are important documents of the colonial era.

     In 1613 Pocahontas (who by this time had been married for three years
to an Indian chief) was captured by white settlers and taken to Jamestown
where she became assimilated into the culture of the Europeans. She
converted to Christianity and in 1614 she married John Rolfe, a tobacco
tycoon she had met when she was captured.

     John Rolfe is credited with being the merchant who made tobacco
farming a booming industry in Virginia. This Marlboro Man of the 1600s
introduced new strains of West Indian tobacco that flourished in Virginia
and he also developed special curing methods for the crops that made the
Virginia tobacco highly desirable back in the Old World.

     In 1615 a son (Thomas) was born to the Rolfes and Pocahontas herself
acquired a new name at her Christian baptism- Lady Rebecca Rolfe. They
traveled to London in 1617 and Pocahontas was a sensation in the London
scene, and had numerous audiences with the royal family at Whitehall.
Unfortunately, Pocahontas sickened and died from the dreaded smallpox
shortly before their return to America. The citizens of England were
devastated when their beloved Indian princess died.

     John Rolfe returned to Jamestown and relations with the Indians were
amicable until Powhatan died in 1618. Then relations soured over the next
four years, culminating in the fierce Indian uprising of 1622. A new chief
named Opechancanough led a war party that massacred 347 colonists on March
22, 1622. John Rolfe was one of the victims.

     After years of English education Thomas Rolfe left London and became
an influential merchant in Virginia. Many descendants in America today
trace their lineage back to the Indian princess and John Rolfe.

     The story of the young Indian princess, her tragic death, and the
tremendous upheaval of warfare makes for a tale Hollywood couldn't
possibly portray in a cartoon movie. My favorite memory of Pocahontas is
not of a young woman living in the woods with her fellow Indians, but of
her picture painted in London shortly before her death.

     In the picture a beautiful looking young woman is shown holding a
white quill pen and wearing lipstick and earrings. On her coiffured hair
rests a fancy round black hat with a red band, and she is wearing a royal
red jacket over a gold-trimmed black shirt . She peers regally at the
viewer and looks more like a young Queen Elizabeth instead of the wild
savage of the American wilderness. Yes, truth is indeed stranger than
fiction.

      -30-


    Thanks to Grolier's CD-ROM and World Book Encyclopedia for research
notes.

    Further comments: I did have one lady write (this was posted on
another Usenet list about two weeks ago) and ask why I didn't mention the
great help Pocahontas was to the settlers (making peace, getting food,
etc..). Space constraints mainly in my column... the same reason I left
out references to the very arrogant and brutal attitude John Smith
allegedly displayed to the Indians.

     Also I was questioned about the first marriage of Pocahontas and her
death by smallpox (the lady had read it was tuberculosis). I replied her
first marriage was reported by a writer who lived in Jamestown in that
era (he was the first Secretary at Jamestown). As for her fatal illness I
would assume smallpox would have been widely recognized by Londoners, but
I also have read she died of TB so I remain open on this topic.


Later,

Russell Smith
rssmith@tenet.edu          rssmith7@delphi.com
Ed.Tech Consultant         Newspaper and Magazine Columnist
Region 14 ESC Abilene, Tx  Fax 915.675.8659 Voice 915.675.8647