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CuratorSuzanne Chery is a History graduate student at American Public University. Her research interest is American Colonial history. She is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Museum of "Little Wanton"

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The English BrideBack to Lobby

John Rolfe and Pocahontas early 1850s, by J. W. Glass Back to LobbyArtifacts

Cloak worn by Powhatan Indians. It is made out of deer hides and sown together with deer sinew. It was worn during ceremonies

FoodBack to Lobby

Native American Mother Earth Symbol (@ Google images)

JamestownBack to Lobby

PowhatanBack to Lobby

Powhatan had many children. He ruled a native empire in what is now eastern Virginia.Chief Powhatan (Wahunsonacock): the most important Powhatan Indian because he was the leader of the Powhatan Confederacy.

Which Man?Back to Lobby

John Rolfe

GalleryJohn SmithRebecca and Thomas RolfeBack to Lobby

Exit GalleryBack to Lobby

"Life PortraitLife portrait of Pocahontas (15951617) .This image is closest to the woman we know as Pocahontas.She is dressed in Jacobean court attire.Her name Pocahontas, "Matoaka" and "Rebecca.Rebecca was a name given to her at her baptism and before her wedding and was in honor of the biblical bride who carried "two nations in the womb.It is believed that she was the first of her group to convert to Christianity. She was well mannered and had immaculate appearance. (Smithsonian.com)

A little Indian GirlPocahontas was born Matoaka. She was favored by her father Powhatan, the powerful chief of the Powhatan Confederacy of Tidewater Algonquian tribes. "Pocahontas" is a pet name meaning "frolicsome." In 1607, she developed relationships with the settlers children, which later puts her in the path of the captured English captain John Smith whom she befriended and possible saved from death by her tribe. she first saw the 104 Jamestown colonists struggling to survive on a low-lying peninsula (now an island) in the James River, and helped by influencing a relationship between the settlers and the Algonquian tribes. (http://www.vahistorical.org)

Changing HistoryPocahontas was a teenager when she represented her people in negotiations with Englishmen. She helped to save Jamestown from starvation and Indian attack and warned the English of an forthcoming ambush by her father.This was a major accomplishment in a time when a young womans participation in diplomatic relations were highly unlikely, and where power was passed between males.She had most of her achievements when she was just a teenager.

Native American Marriage TraditionsGeographic location and social conditions had an impact on native American marriage. Every tribe had its own specific marriage traditions. There were arranged marriage and believe it or not individual choice marriage guided by dreams, visions and personal spiritual calling. There were cases of plural marriage, often one husband and several wives. Brides, grooms dresses in regalia, usually made by hand.The water for washing is a symbol of purification and cleansing. Washing ranges from both the bride and groom washing their hands to cleanse from pass transgressions to the bride washing herself in a body of water the morning of the wedding to be blessed by the spirit of Earth. There were festivities and smoking of tobacco in celebration of the marriage.

A tragedyThe story of Pocahontas is a great traditional story. Although, today it is a popularized story of Pocahontas, primarily focusing on her brief interaction with Captain John Smith. More importantly, the story gives the impression that her marriage to John Rolfe creates justified the transfer of Native American lands to the British. The problem is most people are familiar with the popularized, romanticized and very much inaccurate portrayal of the life of Pocahontas told by Disney, rather than the actual story of discovery, and of two worlds coming together to what would later become America.Pocahontas married an Indian named Kocoum In 1610.In 1614 she married John Rolfe an Englishman.She was baptized and had her name change to become Rebecca Rolfe an Anglicized lady.In 1616, Pocahontas, John, and Thomas departed Jamestown for England.It was there that she met Pocahontas met King James I.In 1617, she died in Gravesend, England after becoming ill.Her burial site has vanished and most of her history fanaticized.

How They May have LookedYoung PocahantasAdult PocahontasTrading In Jamestown

The National Park Service. Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend. https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/pocahontas-her-life-and-legend.htm (accessed January 17, 2016)

The true history and life of Pocahontas, as well as Jamestown settlement in the 17th-centuryPocahontas (15961617) was a real person and a famous Indian girl from what became Tidewater, Virginia that is often immortalized in English literature and is fantasized comic books and in Disney movies. She grew up in a small village and was the daughter of the Powhatan chief and the wife of John Rolfe. Her story is about Indians and English settlers in seventeenth-century Jamestown. Legends have been written about her. Books have been written about her. Her life and story have been depicted in major motion pictures. She had become a storybook princess. The Pocahontas story highlights the distinctive interpretations of the two cultures. She served as a translator and important diplomatic mediator during several frontier negotiations with the Europeans. She is best remembered for saving the life of Captain John Smith after he was captured by Powhatans men (although this has not been proven to have happened the way it is currently written). Her actions later created a bond between the Powhatan Indians and the Jamestown colonists, which enabled the colony to live in peace.

The Hard FactsThere was definite gender imbalance in the Virginia colony and keeping up with trading put a greater strain on the normal way of life and responsibilities of the Indian during the earlier days after the English arrival in Jamestown.Although he did not marry Pocahontas, John Smith played a major role in the story of her. Further, once he left Virginia and went back to England the relationship between the Indians and the English worsened. Then, more and more English began to show up in Virginia and threatens to steal not only the Indians food but also their wives, and land. Many Indians died in this1622 uprising. In 1644, the remaining 2,000 Indians were forced to sign treaties that confined them to reservations in the west.

Which is the truth?The story of Pocahontas saving John Smiths in the beginning of our history and a true example of a legendary history of this girl and her extraordinary bravery. She was brave, but this rescue may not have happened.Today, the name Pocahontas is recognized around the world. Her marriage to John Rolfe is a perfect example of interracial marriages and because of her the two cultures lived in peace for awhile and the Virginia colony was the first to really thrive during that period. It would later become the birthplace of the United States of America. She did not have a romantic relationship with Captain John Smith.For most of history, all we knew about the relationship between the Powhatan Indians and the English settlers were one sided with all accounts coming from the English. This is probably due to the fact that the Indians had no written language at the time. Many of the accounts came from the point-of- view of John Smith.

What was Powhatan government like?In the beginning, there were many different Algonquian tribes in Virginia, including the Chickahominy, Pamunkey, Mattaponi, and Powhatan tribes. Although each village was independent from the others, they all shared the same language and culture. More importantly, they were all united under the Powhatan Confederacy. The language then was Virginia Algonquian. Today they mostly speak English.

FoodThe main staples of the Virginia Colony included corn, and beans. Before the invention of gas, electricity, the stove, and metal pots and pans, food was prepared in clay pots and/or iron kettles over hot burning coals and preserved by smoking, salt curing and pickling. The Native Americans and English settlers traded goods they had in surplus for items they did not have. For example, the English traded utensils, tools, guns, and woven cloth. The Indians traded food and fur. After awhile food became scared for both because Indian men began to do more hunting over agriculture because they could trade the meat and this in itself upset the traditional gender balances in their society and land use, upsetting the Indians traditional way of life. This situation ultimately led to conflict between the Natives and the English. Additionally, it led to conflict between various different Indian tribes as they all compete with each other over the best hunting grounds in order to keep up with trade relations with the English. For awhile, both the Indians and the English maintained a mutual beneficial and peaceful relationship.

English ColonyThe first group of Englishmen stumbled upon Jamestown in 1607.John Smiths rescue by Pocahontas is believed to be highly unlikely and considering any account of it was given by Mr. john Smith himself.There are no accounts of the life of Pocahontas given by Pocahontas. Much of the accounts of Pocahontas life also came from Captain John Smith. John Smith was a soldier and an adventurer, and a member of the group of English settler organized by Englands Virginia Company. At the time of the English arrival in the Chesapeake are (now Virginia) the land was already home to the Indians united under chief Powhatan and the English ended up there in their search for fortune. Their search for gold failed so they began to grow tobacco and in turn sold it to England, which turn out to be very profitable. They came to Jamestown with both religious and prosperity motives. Upon their arrival the Indians recognized that the Indians were pretty clueless. They did not know how to find food, however, they had guns so there were opportunity for forcefully taking what the Indians had, to start a war, and to trade. However, John Smith made it clear that the colonists should not steal food from the Indians.In just a short time they tried to convert the Native Indians to Protestant Christianity. None the less, the Native Indians and the English settlers had one of the worst relationships in all of American history.

ArtifactsThe term "totem pole" refers to the tall cedar poles with multiple figures carved by Native people of the northern Northwest Coast.-Robin K. WrightNative Americans created totem poles to express themselves and the history of their tribe. Totem poles are artworks and teaching tools, as they documents history from one generation to another.They were mostly carved by Indians that lived in region with trees; for example, the Northwest and Pacific coast, as well as other forested areas.They once stood well over 20 feet. Today they are used as historic markers, for home decorations, and in ceremonies.Today, totem poles are still being carved and collected by many people. One cannot interpret what an individual pole really means without knowledge of the history of the pole, or of the carver, family, or the owner.

GeographyThe John Smith map modified by Edward Wright Haile

John Rolfe and Tobacco John Rolfe was a widowed settle that owned a lot of land in Virginia. He was an unskilled chemist who felt that tobacco could be a profitable crop in the New World and it was because he became very wealthy from it. At first he tried to work with the native tobacco plants to try and make them usable for export, but when that did not work, he brought in the Spanish tobacco. This allowed him to use the arable land to create a profitable tobacco crop. Thus, proving the colony could grow crop.Rolfe's tobacco helped Jamestown to flourish.

Native American Sounds

Disneys Love Story (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcqnQKvlnTc)

ResourcesGoogle images. Creative Commons Imageshttp://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/picturing-pocahontas-162045093/?no-istHeuvel, Lisa. 2007. "The True Story of Pocahontas: The Other Side of History." American Indian Culture & Research Journal 31, no. 3: 240-243. Academic Search Elite, EBSCOhost (accessed January 17, 2016).http://www.powhatan.org/Library of Congress. Pocahontas Ballet. http://www.loc.gov/item/88753863/The National Park Service. Pocahontas: Her Life and Legend. https://www.nps.gov/jame/learn/historyculture/pocahontas-her-life-and-legend.htm (accessed January 17, 2016)Tratner, Michael. "Translating Values: Mercantilism and the many "Biographies" of Pocahontas." Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 32, no. 1 (Winter2009 2009): 128-136. Academic Search Elite, EBSCOhost (accessed January 18, 2016).Virginia Historical Society. Life Portrait of Pocahontas. http://www.vahistorical.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/life-portrait-pocahontas

Nature's BlessingJessita ReyesNative American Flutes & Sounds Of Nature (Relaxing Native American Flute & Nature Sounds For Massage, Sleep, Spas & Yoga), track 17/22, disc 1/12010New Age85238.055eng - Amazon.com Song ID: 215825092