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Virginian Native Americans Reader’s Theater
By Miss Oberlander
VS SOL 2d
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the physical, geography, and native peoples, past and
present of Virginia by locating three American Indian language groups (the Algonquian, the Siouan,
and the Iroquoian) on a map of Virginia.
VS SOL 2e
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the physical, geography, and native peoples, past and
present of Virginia by describing how American Indians (First Americans) related and adapted to the
climate and their environment to secure food, clothing, and shelter.
VS SOL 2f
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the physical, geography, and native peoples, past and
present of Virginia by describing how archaeologists have recovered new material evidence through
sites including Werowocomoco and Jamestown.
VS SOL 2g
The student will demonstrate knowledge of the physical, geography, and native peoples, past and
present of Virginia by identifying and locating the current state-recognized tribes.
Characters:
1. CBS News Anchor (interviewer)
2. Powhatan warrior (man)
3. Monacan squaw (woman)
4. Cherokee squaw
5. Archeologist
CBS News Anchor: Good evening, folks, I’m Ralph Windowpane with
CBS evening news! I’m here today with archeologist, Diane Dingo, as we
investigate and identify material evidence left from Virginia’s peoples of
the past.
Diane Dingo: Thank you, Ralph. I am so happy to be here with you
guys to explore and uncover some artifacts that give us clues to piece
together the Native Americans’ way of life here in Virginia.
CBS News Anchor: What kind of Native peoples lived here in Virginia
before the Englishmen arrived?
Diane Dingo: Virginia’s Indians are referred to as Eastern Woodland
Indians, because of the forests or woodlands, which have a variety of
trees that cover most of the land in the state. The climate is very
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favorable for forest growth, because it is relatively mild with distinct
seasons—spring, summer, fall, and winter—resulting in a variety of
vegetation.
CBS News Anchor: Today, we have a few Eastern Woodland Indians
who have joined us to explain more about their tribes, lifestyle, and
history.
Powhatan Warrior: Hi, I am a Powhatan warrior. I am from the
Tidewater region of Virginia.
Monacan Squaw: Hello, I am a Monacan squaw, a Native American
Indian from the Piedmont region.
Cherokee Squaw: And I am a Cherokee squaw from southwestern
Virginia. I am thrilled to be here today, and fill you in on some of the
ways of the Native peoples.
CBS News Anchor: So am I! We sure are going to learn a lot. Now,
Diane, you are an archeologist. Tell us a little bit about who
archeologists are, and what they do!
Diane Dingo: Archeologists are people who devote their time to
studying all kinds of materials or evidence that are left over from people
of the past. In this case, we have to look at the artifacts of the Indians
who lived here to get a clear picture of what their lives looked like.
CBS News Anchor: So, in a way, archeologists are like detectives,
searching for clues that link to evidence that tells the story of what
really happened.
Diane Dingo: Yes! That’s a great way to look at it! Artifacts such as
arrowheads, pottery, and other tools that have been found tell a lot
about the Indians who lived in Virginia.
CBS News Anchor: Now, Diane, you keep saying “Indians,” but don’t
you really mean, “Native Americans,” because Indians was an accidental
name Columbus gave the natives when he assumed he had landed in
India.
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Diane Dingo: That’s right! Thanks for the correction! Back in 1492,
Christopher Columbus called the people he found in the lands he
discovered and explored “Indians,” because he thought he was in the
Indies near China.
CBS News Anchor: He had no idea that he had found a totally new
continent, the Western Hemisphere of the world! What a surprise!
Diane Dingo: You got it! But even though the correction has been
made, the name “Indians” still stuck for the native peoples who lived in
the lands unexplored by Europeans.
Powhatan Warrior: Native Americans in Virginia are organized into
three groups, depending on the three different languages that the
Indians spoke.
Monacan Squaw: Those three languages are: Algonquian, Siouan, and
Iroquoian. Tribes who spoke the same language tended to settle near
one another, because they could communicate among themselves.
Cherokee Squaw: So even though we represent our tribe and our
language group, we are just one tribe of many that spoke the languages
we will be telling you about today.
CBS News Anchor: What language was spoken in the Tidewater or
Coastal Plain region of Virginia?
Powhatan Warrior: Algonquian was the language primarily spoken in
the region. Many of the tribes were part of the Powhatan confederation.
Monacan Squaw: Powhatan Confederation? What’s that?
Powhatan Warrior: Chief Powhatan was kind of like a king of the area
who ruled over many smaller tribes that also spoke the Algonquian
language. A confederation is just a big fancy word that means a group of
smaller parts—in this case, smaller tribes.
Cherokee Squaw: Wasn’t Chief Powhatan the same chief who was alive
when Jamestown got started?
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Powhatan Warrior: Yes! In fact, Chief Powhatan’s daughter,
Pocahontas, is very famous, for saving the life of an English settler,
Captain John Smith, who we will learn more about later this year.
Diane Dingo: Archaeologists recently discovered Chief Powhatan’s
capital village called Werowocomoco. This large Indian town was used
by Indian leaders, like Powhatan, for several hundred years before the
English settlers came.
Powhatan Warrior: It was the headquarters for the leader, Powhatan,
in 1607 during the Jamestown times.
CBS News Anchor: So all of the Powhatans spoke the Algonquian
language?
Powhatan Warrior: Yes! But we were not the only tribe. In fact, there
are still a bunch who are current state-recognized tribes that are located
in the Coastal Plain region of Virginia.
CBS News Anchor: Which tribes are those?
Powhatan Warrior: The Chickahominy tribe and the Eastern
Chickahominy tribe…
Diane Dingo: The Mattaponi Tribe, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe, and the
Pamunkey Tribe.
Monacan Squaw: Remember the York river in Virginia? It’s two
tributaries are called the Mattaponi and the Pamunkey rivers. Both of
those smaller rivers were named after these two tribes, because this is
where they settled.
Powhatan Warrior: Speaking of rivers named after Indian tribes, the
Rappahannock River was also named after the Rappahannock Indian
tribe.
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Diane Dingo: The last state-recognized tribe in the Coastal Plain region
that most likely spoke the Algonquian language was the Nansemond
Tribe.
Monacan Squaw: The next language spoken by several tribal groups
was the Siouan language. The Monacans, which is the tribe that I am a
member of, settled in the Piedmont region of Virginia, as did other
tribes that spoke Siouan.
Diane Dingo: The Monacan tribe is still a state-recognized tribe even
today!
Cherokee Squaw: The third major language group is the Iroquoian
language, spoken by the Cherokee tribe and other tribes that settled in
southwestern Virginia and in southern Virginia near what is today
North Carolina.
Diane Dingo: Today, most native peoples live like other Americans.
Their cultures and their languages have changed over time. But it is
fascinating to learn about their culture and lifestyles from the past.
Monacan Squaw: American Indians who trace their family history back
to before 1607 (the time of Jamestown) continue to live in all parts of
Virginia today!
CBS News Anchor: So how did the Native Americans get to Virginia in
the first place?
Diane Dingo: Great question! About 12,000 years ago, native peoples
from Asia up north near Alaska crossed a land bridge across the Bering
Strait and then followed the migration route of the animals and birds to
inhabit most of the continent.
CBS News Anchor: So Native Americans are known for their use of
natural resources as a way of life. Tell us a little bit about your lifestyle,
and how you use nature every day.
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Monacan Squaw: Much of our lifestyle depends on the seasons. Our
daily routines changed depending on the environmental changes at
various times throughout the year.
Cherokee Squaw: The kinds of foods we ate, the clothing we wore, and
the shelters we had depended entirely on the seasons and what natural
resources were around where we lived that we could utilize.
Monacan Squaw: Foods changed with the seasons. So cooking
different types of meals for my family changed whether it was spring,
summer, fall, or winter.
Cherokee Squaw: Our Cherokee men had an important job, which was
especially important in the winter when it was hard to grow crops. The
Cherokee men would hunt birds and animals like deer to feed my family
along with the foods we stored from the previous fall harvest.
CBS News Anchor: So Indians conserved their food and did not waste
it? We could learn a lot from the Indians about not wasting our food
and conserve what we have too.
Monacan Squaw: If they did not eat it in the summer or fall when it
was fresh, they saved it to eat during the winter, so they would not
starve.
Powhatan Warrior: As a Powhatan warrior from the Coastal Plain
region, the springtime was the time when our food depended on the
hunters to bring fresh meat as well as fresh fish from the rivers and
streams.
Monacan Squaw: The women and children picked berries in the spring
for their meals too.
Diane Dingo: Tell us who did most of the farming and work around the
house in an Indian village.
Monacan Squaw: Women and children of course! Men were off
hunting, so it was the women’s responsibility to keep up with the
housework and the gardening.
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CBS News Anchor: What season was the busiest for you?
Monacan Squaw: Probably the summertime.
CBS News Anchor: Why’s that?
Monacan Squaw: Because the summer was the time we were growing
our crops. We grew corn, beans, and squash.
Powhatan Warrior: A good way to remember the crops Indians grew
in their gardens is to remember the letters that each crop starts with c
for corn, b for beans, and s for squash.
CBS News Anchor: Hey! CBS! Just like the CBS evening news!
Cherokee Squaw: That’s clever! In the fall it was a busy time too,
because the fall meant harvesting. We women were busy tending our
gardens, so that they would produce an abundant amount of crops! Our
men were our hunting for foods that we could preserve and keep for the
winter.
CBS News Anchor: What did Native Americans wear for clothing?
Monacan Squaw: Again, natural resources were the key! Animal skins,
particularly deerskins were used for clothing.
Powhatan Warrior: Sometimes, a beaver pelt or a bearskin would
keep Native Americans warm during the winter in addition to the
deerskins.
CBS News Anchor: What kinds of shelters did the Native Americans
live in?
Powhatan Warriors: They were called long houses.
Cherokee Squaw: It was a long narrow one roomed house with a hole
in the top to let the smoke out from the fire that burned in the center of
the house to keep it warm during the winter months.
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Powhatan Warriors: The men built the houses out of the many trees
from the forests in the area.
CBS News Anchor: Wow, natural resources really was a way of life for
the Indians.
Diane Dingo: There’s a lot of things you can learn from the Native
peoples who inhabited Virginia before the Englishmen.
CBS News Anchor: Thanks for joining us today! I am Ralph
Windowpane signing out for the CBS evening news.