Title: The legend of Pocahontas and her people
Lesson Author: Jennifer Mecca and Ashton Hoff
Key Words: Pocahontas, John Smith, Powhatan, New World, Jamestown
Grade Level: 11th grade
Time Allotted: 60 minutes
Rationale/ Purpose (so what?)
Students will learn important aspects of the culture of Virginia Indians including the
controversy of Pocahontas and how she is perceived in the modern day. The
Powhatans can serve as a case example for the diverse Native American populations
that now reside in the United States. Their journey is important because students live
in the state of Virginia.
Key Concept(s) include definition:
Powhatan Confederation: the political organization of the Virginia
Indians, a system in which conquered nations and neighboring towns paid
tribute to Chief Powhatan
Jamestown: first permanent English settlement in North America. Located
in present day Virginia.
Relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas: arguably one of
the most controversial topics in Virginia History. Deals with sifting through
primary sources to uncover the border between fact and fiction.
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NCSS Standard(s)
SOL Information (As written in the Virginia SOL “Curriculum Framework”
for the grade level)
NCSS Theme (s) with indicators: NCSS I Culture: Students will learn
about the language, traditions, beliefs, and behaviors governing the
Powhatan Indians of Virginia, they will also learn about the obstacles
created in contacts with the Europeans.
SOLs: Standard VUS.2 The student will describe how early European exploration and
colonization resulted in cultural interactions among Europeans, Africans, and American
Indians
Essential Knowledge
Essential Skills
(minimum for SOL Resource Guide)
(minimum for SOL Resource Guide)
•
•
Jamestown, established in 1607 by
the Virginia Company of London as a
business venture, was the first
permanent English settlement in
North America
Interactions among Europeans,
Africans, and American Indians:
The Explorations and settlements of
the English in the American
colonies…often led to violent
conflicts with the American Indians.
The Indians lost their traditional
territories and fell victim to diseases
carried from Europe
•
Identify, analyze, and interpret
primary and secondary source
documents (VUS.1a)
•
Formulate historical questions and
defend findings based on inquiry
and interpretation. (VUS.1c)
Guiding Question(s):
How does the structure of Powhatan’s confederacy differ from other
political systems?
What aspects of the Powhatans culture would lead to clashes with the
English? What aspects of English culture would clash with the Powhatans?
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How did the arrival of the English impact traditional Native American
culture in Virginia?
Did the “rescue” of John Smith by Pocahontas actually occur as part of an
adoption ceremony or in a similar context?
Assessment Tool(s): in class KWL chart, left side of their interactive
notebook, and a 90 second essay on how Pocahontas would feel about her
image in the modern world
Background: How does this lesson fit into a unit of study?
Looking backwards,
looking forwards
The section before this deals with exploration, and the desire of Western Europe to found
new colonies in the New World. After our section students will move to a section dealing
with the territory, economic specifications, and basic information of each of the 13 colonies
Lesson Objective(s) (Please number):
Objective 1: SWBAT compare and contrast the Powhatans’ culture with the
English Colonist’s culture by participating in the lecture and the interactive
notebook activity.
Objective 2: SWBAT explain how the arrival of the English clashed with the
traditional values of the Powhatans by participating in the lecture and the
interactive notebook activity.
Objective 3: SWBAT examine historical arguments related to the rescue of
John Smith from differing points of view and evaluate their validity to
develop their own beliefs. Students will demonstrate this objective by
participating in a Structured Academic Controversy.
Materials: Historical
Source(s): (include copies in
Additional
Materials/Resources: (include
materials section)
copies in materials section)
Material A: Helen Rountree
(Nay/No) Reading
Material C: Structured Academic
Controversy Background
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Material B: Frederick Gleach
(Yay/Yes) Reading
Material D: SAC worksheets (Yay)
Material E: SAC worksheet (Nay)
Material F: SAC worksheet (group
response)
Material G: Pocahontas essay
Material H: KWL Chart
Material I: Lecture Slot Notes
Material J: Left side of Interactive
Notebook: Spoke Diagram,
Rap/Poem, or Picto-word
Material K: Slot Notes Powerpoint
Material L: SAC Powerpoint
Procedure/Process:
JUST DO IT! The “Hook”: Students will complete the K and W part of their chart,
What do they already know about Virginia Indians, What would they like to know?
Obj #
See
above.
Just do it.
Processing Activity and Procedure include directions, question frames,
assignment detail to be given to
students (these should all be made
into explicit materials (e.g. see
material A), and time estimates
Fill in the K and W sections of the KWL
chart (see Material H)—approx 3 minutes
Check for Evidence of
Understanding
-Either Formal or Informal(Checks Essential Knowledge
and Skills)
Informal--teachers will see
them working on chart
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Transition: Students will be instructed to take out their notebooks
Check for understanding will
be the left side of their
Will provide background by lecturing while interactive notebook. They
Objective
students use Slot Notes (see Material I &
will create a Spoke Diagram,
1 and 2
Rap/Poem, or Picto-word to
K)-20 minutes
provide evidence of
understanding (see Material J)
Finish up the L portion of their KWL chart—5 minutes, and a debrief using
Transition: student responses, this will be followed by a brief introduction into the
background of the Pocahontas story—5-7 minutes (See Material L)
Students will be sharing their
Students will be given two different
response with group member
interpretations of the John Smith Rescue
and filling in worksheets
Objective (see Material A and B), they will break up
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into groups of four and complete the SAC
At end a 90 second essay will
worksheets (see Materials C,D, E, F)-20
wrap up the lesson (see
minutes
Material G)
Modifications/Accommodations for Diverse Learners:
All learners will be given the proper accommodations and modifications
based on their unique situation in accordance will all IEPs, 504s, and any
other adaptations required for their specific learning.
Closure/Writing Prompt/Rubric: After wrapping up the Structured
Academic Controversy students will wrap up by writing a 90 second essay
on How Pocahontas would feel about the portrayal of her in the modern
world
Materials (one resource per page- so it becomes a teacher or student handout, or
overhead directions or ppt presentation.)
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Material C
Background
One of the most debatable and controversial topics in Virginia history is the
reported rescue of John Smith by a young Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powhatan.
The story has been highly romanticized in movies, popular myth, and even by Disney.
The controversy surrounding the story is nothing new; during the 19th century this
debate pitted historians, divided by sectional differences, to each petition their own
candidate. Historians in the North often doubted the truth of Smith’s accounts, including
the famous rescue by Pocahontas. Many Southern historians, especially those in
Virginia, rallied against any attempt to deny the heroic rescue story as a Yankee
conspiracy designed to slander a Virginia hero.
However in recent years a new school of thought has emerged. Although some
still view Smith’s accounts as mere fabrications, some have begun to argue that the
‘rescue’ was a form of adoption ceremony. In this view, Powhatan used his daughter to
symbolically adopt John Smith as a son and set him up as a lesser chief under Chief
Powhatan. This school of thought has explored the essential question:
Did the “rescue” of John Smith by Pocahontas actually occur as part of an
adoption ceremony or in a similar context?
References
Rountree, Helen (1990) Pocahontas’s people: the Powhatan Indians of Virginia
through Four Centuries. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press
Gleach, Frederic (1997) Powhatan’s World and Colonial Virginia. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press
Further Reading
Townsend, Camilla (2004) Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma: an American
portraits. New York: Hill and Wang.
Kupperman, Karen (2007) The Jamestown Project. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press
First Hand Accounts available online at www.virtualjamestown.org
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Material A
Nay/No—Excerpts Taken From: Rountree, Helen (1990) Pocahontas’s people: the
Powhatan Indians of Virginia through Four Centuries. Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press
It is only in the account of 1624 that [Pocahontas] appears; Smith writes that she saved his life
after her father decided to have him killed by beating his brains out on an altar stone. Many
historians have accepted that account of a rescue as authentic, while others have had their doubts.
Readers of Smith’s later work will note that in his lifetime he was conveniently saved “by a fair
lady at the moment of direst peril—not once but three times.” And the women are not depicted as
real people, but “were stage the deities who intervened at proper moments, and always women of
high rank…..
Smith may have manufactured the peril from which Pocahontas supposedly saved him. The
Indians throughout his 1624 account are prone to sudden and brutish violence. Pocahontas,
whom his readers knew from her visit to England in 1616-1617, is made to shine as an exception
to the “savagery” around her and depicted as a heroine who “saved” the English colony in the
months to follow. She is also pictured, as an instigator of any friendly treatment the English
received from other Indians. Yet no contemporary of Smith’s described her in that way or
mentioned any saving of Smith’s life; William Strachey and Samuel Purchas in his early editions
would have been sure to mention the rescue incident had it happened, for it would have meant
that the English had a useful friend in high favor with the Indian “emperor”. (Purchas included
the incident in his 1625 edition quoting Smith verbatim without comment.) Smith’s “memory”
is even more suspect because he added to his 1624 account two incidents that definitely did not
happen in December 1607……Smith’s claim to have been rescued by Pocahontas is therefore
doubtful for historical reasons…..
The rescue of John Smith by Pocahontas does not bear scrutiny from an anthropological
viewpoint, either. We are expected to believe that Powhatan welcomed and feasted a powerful
guest whom his astute brother and his most trusted priests has tested and approved, and then
suddenly, after “a long consultation,” he tried to have that guest’s brains clubbed out on an altar
stone—a quick death normally meted out to disobedient subjects, not a capture foreigner (see
Prologue). This scenario simply does not ring true. Pocahontas probably did see John Smith for
the first time in that January of 1608, but it is highly unlikely that his life needed saving at that
time.
While he was still at Powhatan’s capital, Smith was taken to a house “in the woods,” probably a
temple, where he was seated in an anteroom…. Coming into the room where Smith was,
Powhatan informed him that “now they were friends……Powhatan would henceforth treat Smith
as a “son.” This incident, along with the “rescue” has been taken by some historians to be a
formal adoption procedure. The incident by itself (conference, decision, announcement) may
have been something of the sort, since it approximates description of adoption procedures in
other Indian groups (e.g. Iroquois), and Powhatan is known to have placed his real sons in ruling
positions and expected them to send tribute. However, Smith did not write of the “rescue” itself
as though it were part of a ritual, and no identical sequence of events is recorded as an adoption
procedure for any other native American group. We have no information at all about the nature
of the Powhatan adoption procedure.
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Material B
Yay/Yes— Excerpts Taken From: Gleach, Frederic (1997) Powhatan’s World and Colonial
Virginia. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
While at Werowocomoco Smith was rescued by Pocahontas, although there is no published
account of this incident until the Generall Historie:
[Powhatan] sat covered with a great robe made of raccoon skins, and all the tails hanging
by……two rows of men, and behind them as many women, with all their heads and
shoulders painted red; many of their heads bedecked with the white down of birds, but
every one with something, and a great chain of white beads about their necks. At his
entrance before the king all the people gave a great shout. The queen of Appomattox was
appointed to bring [Smith] water to wash his hands, and another brought [Smith] a bunch
of feathers, instead of a towel to dry them. Having feasted him after their best barbarous
manner they count, a long consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones
were brought before Powhatan. Then as many as could laid hands on [Smith], dragged him
to them and thereon laid his head, and being ready with their clubs to beat out his brains.
Pocahontas, the king’s dearest daughter, when no entreaty could prevail, got [Smith’s] head
in her arms, and laid her own upon his to save him from death. Whereat the emperor was
contented he should live to make him hatchets, and her bells, beads, and copper (Smith
1986d: 150-151)
This is perhaps the most famous incident in the history of Virginia. Pocahontas has frequently
been supposed to have instantly fallen in love with Smith and to have saved his life for that
reason…. The debate over whether the incident even happened has raged for over a hundred
years; given its articulations with the ritual complex described here, however it likely happened
much as described. Smith has been accused of inventing or at least embellishing the incident,
….. the events described here and the larger ritual context in which they occur can be better
understood in terms of the Powhatan culture, ……Like the articulation of this incident in the
larger ritual context described here, the details Smith reported also support his account; they fit
with the Powhatan world-view too well to be made by an outsider. Washing Smith’s hands and
drying them with feathers is a cleansing act typical of Algonquian rituals; the formal
organization and attire of the Powhatans also supports this view. Pocahontas was acting in an
important cultural role as mediator (cf. Kidwell 1992), symbolically saving Smith’s life so that
he could effectively be reborn into a new world of cultural relationships…..
A number of scholars have suggested that some part of this series of rituals, most typically his
rescue by Pocahontas, may have been an adoption of Smith (e.g. Barbour 1970: 23-26). As
already mentioned here, beginning in the nineteenth century, others have questioned whether this
rescue even happened. Two recent writers have differed on this point. Lemay argues from a
critical reading of the original texts that the rescue probably happened as described; as he
suggests (1992: 72-29) the acceptance of the story by Samuel Purchas, who knew Smith and
talked with several Powhatans, including Pocahontas argues strongly for its [truth]. In contrast
Rountree (1990: 38-39) believes the rescue never happened…..But if Smith, or any other
observer from another culture, completely fabricated an incident, we would not expect it to fit
with other observations from the culture being described…..Insofar as Smith’s accounts are not
contradicted, and make sense within the context in which they are based….they can be accepted.
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Material F
Structured Academic Controversy
Did the “rescue” of John Smith by Pocahontas actually occur as part of an adoption
ceremony or in a similar context?
Group Response: What did you agree on? What do you disagree on?
Individual Response: What do you personally think?
9
Material D
Structured Academic Controversy
Did the “rescue” of John Smith by Pocahontas actually occur as part of an adoption
ceremony or in a similar context?
Yay/Yes- Identify some key points to support your argument (be ready to share them with your
group)
Questions: Listen to the opposing Point of View as they present and develop some clarifying
questions you want to ask.
10
Material E
Structured Academic Controversy
Did the “rescue” of John Smith by Pocahontas actually occur as part of an adoption
ceremony or in a similar context?
Nay/No- Identify some key points to support your argument (be ready to share them with your
group)
Questions: Listen to the opposing Point of View as they present and develop some clarifying
questions you want to ask
11
Material I
Name_________________________________
Date__________________
English Colonists vs. Powhatan Indians
I. English:
A. Patriarchal
1. Land was passed down through males.
B. Language
1. Spoke and wrote English
C. Land Ownership
1. Believed that if a person owns land they are in control of the land
and all the natural resources that are on the land
D. Jamestown
1. Founded in 1607
2. First permanent English settlement in North America
3. At first only men came to Jamestown
4. Relied on Native Americans (Powhatans) as trading partners in the
early years of Jamestown
5. John Smith
a. Leader of the English at Jamestown
b. Helped to initiate trade with the Powhatans
II. Powhatans:
A. Matrilineal
1. Leadership was passed down through females
C. Language
1. Spoke Algonquian
D. Land Ownership
2. Believed that land is not to be owned but shared for the common
good of all
E. Werowocomoco
1. Capital of Powhatan Confederacy
a. Included over 30 different tribes
2. Powhatan was the Weroance (Chief)
b. He also had Weroances under him that ruled towns
that were part of the Powhatan Confederacy.
F. Pocahontas
1. Was one of the daughters of Powhatan
2. Believed the English and the Powhatans could live in harmony.
3. Supposedly began a friendship with the colonists that helped them
survive.
4. Served as a contact between the Powhatans and the English.
III. Uprising of 1622:
A. Even though the early years between the Powhatans and the English were peaceful, it wasn’t long before these two
very different groups began to clash.
B. Uprising
1. After Pocahontas’s death in 1617, Opecancaugh led a revolt against the English in 1622.
2. Opecancaugh
a. Powhatan’s brother
b. War Chief of the Powhatans
3. Outcome
a. Could have been worse because an Indian boy alerted his owner and the English were prepared.
b. Even though English were killed, 2/3 of the English colonists survived
c. Even though the ultimate plan of wiping the out English was not successful it marked a change in
the relationship between the Powhatans and the English.
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Material J
Name__________________________
Date__________________
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:+&!7;
13
Material H
Name________________________
Date__________________
KWL Chart
Native Americans/Powhatans/English
Know
Want to Know
Learned
14
Material G
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