Pocahontas as an Historical Character
I believe that raising awareness about a character or a historical figure such as Pocahontas needs to be taught to students. This gives the opportunity for students to use the information or findings through text or film and make their own judgment about the character. Pocahontas is a historical figure of an earlier time and many today are unaware of her existence. Nonetheless, she was very popular in England. Here in the United States, she is popular through the Walt Disney film, but surprisingly, factual information about her is distorted or contradicts the authors that wrote about her. The information that I have gathered is what is commonly known based on several sources. These resources are textbooks and films about her.
Pocahontas was born in 1597--some say 1596. She is the daughter of a powerful Powhatan chief Wahunsonacock. She is of the Powhatan tribe who lived near a town now known as Jamestown, Virginia. She was known as Matoaka and Amonate her tribe claims. After she assimilated into the English colony, she converted to Christianity, married John Rolfe, and became known as Rebecca Rolfe. Her epic life begins as a ten- or eleven-year-old who saves the life of John Smith, who was going to be clubbed by her father, the chief of the Powhatan. John Smith is an Englishman who came across from England to establish a life in Jamestown. Some say the meeting of John Smith with Pocahontas never occurred. What we know about Pocahontas may not be the truth or even close to the truth. We know that when she was ten or eleven years old when she met John Smith. She was considered a kind of ambassador who tried to keep peace between two different groups of people—the English and the Native Americans. She is thought to have saved John Smith, which makes her a hero with the Western colony. She did not marry John Smith but married John Rolfe and later lived in England and was treated like queen. There she was known as a noble Indian who did what she was told. While still in Jamestown, John Rolfe and Pocahontas had a son named Thomas Rolfe. As they were traveling back to America, she got ill and died, and is buried at Gravesend in England. Today Thomas Rolfe has some living descendants. The lineage shows up to three generation but after that it is unknown. According to some stories, she did not have a good relation with her own tribe due to the fact that she was nice to the settlers. There is truth to some of the information that was agreed upon by several authors that wrote about her. Even John Smith had written about her and in his writing, he said he was saved by Pocahontas. This may be made up to benefit him, or there could be some truth to it.5
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