Pocahontas -- a portrait done during her visit to England. She died at 22.
Posted on 05/14/2011 9:30:40 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Yesterday was the anniversary of the landing at Jamestown How many people know the story of its survival, a story that reflects our American heritage?
I am firm in my conviction that children should know the history of their own country and I find it sad and frightening that multiculturalism is making headway in education. It is very damaging to allow an educational environment where children celebrate everybody else's culture or history, but not their own. I have been appalled to talk to young adults who don't know that the United States was the first country established on the basis of individual rights, have never heard of Patrick Henry or don't understand the meaning of the Declaration of Independence. We have a rich, wonderful heritage with many meaningful events that need to be shared with our children.
One of the most remarkable stories is the story of Pocahontas. May 13, 1607 marks the date that 104 male English settlers arrived at a site they named Jamestown and established the first successful English settlement in the New World. Pocahontas, along with the leadership of Captain John Smith, was instrumental in this accomplishment. Children today are pretty unaware of what really happened, typically the only real exposure they have is from the Walt Disney movie, Pocahontas, where the story is totally distorted.
In the Walt Disney film, the Europeans are portrayed as evil, coming to the New World only in search of gold and the desire to kill Indians. The Indians, on the other hand, are all portrayed as benevolent and good, living simply and peacefully. Chief Powhatan is portrayed as wise and kindly, but he has betrothed his daughter, Pocahontas, to Kocoum, whom she doesn't wish to marry. When Pocahontas meets Captain John Smith they fall in love, but she finds fault with him for being racist and lectures him with a song. Later while the Englishmen are out hoping to annihilate the Indians and confiscate their gold, Kocoum attacks Captain John Smith and is killed by another Englishman. Thinking that Smith killed Kocoum, he is captured and sentenced to die. The audience is then treated to a song called "Savages." The Englishmen sing, "Here's what you get when races are diverse. Their skin's a hellish red. They're only good when dead." The Indians sing this as they prepare for battle: "The paleface is a demon. The only thing they feel at all is greed." The English are portrayed as being motivated by prejudice and greed, but the Indians' fury is mitigated by a misunderstanding.
Pocahontas resolves to stop the war and as Smith is about to be killed, she throws herself upon him as the axe is about to fall. Her father, touched by her love for Smith, calls off his warriors and the English soldiers reciprocate. The governor of the English, Ratcliffe, however, grabs a gun and tries to shoot Powhatan when Smith throws himself in front of the chief and is seriously wounded. He and Pocahontas tearfully separate as his only hope for recovery lies in returning to London for treatment.
Now let's look at what really happened. First of all, the English settlers came to America in search of freedom, not because they wanted to kill Indians and steal their gold. Freedom was so important to the settlers that they endured many hardships and suffering such as fire, drought, Indian attacks, disease, starvation and death which wiped out half the colony. (The movie doesn't even acknowledge this.)
The Indians, on the other hand, were, for the most part, uncivilized and roamed the countryside warring with each other and other tribes. They tortured and murdered prisoners with ceremonial dancing and feasts, scalped strangers, and annually sacrificed 2-3 children chosen by witch doctors. They were doing this before white men ever appeared on the shore.
Pocahontas was 10 years old when the English came to settle at Jamestown. She was a happy child and was often laughing, singing and playing. She played with the young cabin boys and studied the tools they used. She was filled with wonder and admiration at what these strangers had accomplished as they were more advanced than her own people. She was especially fascinated with the ax and what the colonists could do with it to make buildings. Pocahontas became friends with the settlers and learned their language and everyone's name that first summer. She especially liked Captain John Smith (who was married and 27 years old) and by Fall began to teach him her language. She brought food to the colonists and warned them of Indian attacks.
Chief Powhatan, father to Pocahontas, did not share her admiration for the Englishmen. That winter when Smith was on a map making expedition, the Indians captured and condemned him to death. Powhatan was not so wise and kindly (as the movie wants us to believe) otherwise Pocahontas would have been able to reason with him. Instead, she had to stand against her very own father and her people in order to save Smith's life. In Smith's own words, "At the minute of my execution, she hazarded the beating of her own brains to save mine."
After that, Chief Powhatan used Pocahontas (now age 11) as an emissary to the colony. Without her, Jamestown probably would have disappeared like Roanoke Colony before them. In the meantime Smith was injured in a gun powder accident (he was not shot by Ratcliff) and sent back to London to recover. In 1608 Powhatan was angered by the Colonists' wish to seek peace with him so he threatened Pocahontas with death if she continued to help the Colonists. She did anyway.
In 1609 it was a terrible winter and the Colonists were starving. The Indians were preparing to attack them so Powhatan sent Pocahontas to a far away village.
In 1613 the Colonists decided to kidnap some Indians in order to get Chief Powhatan to negotiate with them. Pocahontas (now 15 or 16) was lured on a boat near Washington D.C. and brought to Jamestown where she was regarded and met as a heroine, much to the surprise to those who brought her there. Chief Powhatan was indifferent to the fact that they had his daughter.
Next Pocahontas went to John Rolfe's tobacco plantation to teach him her knowledge of tobacco. While there she also studied Christianity, converted and was baptized Rebecca. In 1614 she married John Rolfe.
Two years later Rolfe, Pocahontas and their son, Thomas, plus 12 Indians went to England where she was received as a lady and was presented to Queen Anne as "Lady Rebecca of Virginia." While preparing to return to America, she got small pox and died. She was buried in England with this plaque, "Rebecca Rolfe of Virginia, Lady Born." There is a statue of her there and a copy of it is in Jamestown. John Rolfe returned to Jamestown to build up his plantation and was killed by Pocahontas' uncle in 1622. Their son, Thomas, returned to America in 1635, married and had 12 children. These descendents married into Virginia families and some eventually served in the United States Senate and House of Representatives.
Unlike the Walt Disney movie, the real story of Pocahontas demonstrates the triumph of individualism over racism. If the English considered Indians to be racially inferior, or if the English were true racists, the honorable tribute to Pocahontas in England and Virginia would never have happened nor would her descendents have ever been elected to the U.S. government.
Pocahontas is the tale of a heroine, a child who exhibited moral courage and independence, a child who went against everything she'd been taught all her life in favor of the convictions of her own mind, thus proving that one's race does not have to determine one's culture or destiny. Her bravery was a great and crucial help to the survival of the colony at Jamestown and she deserves to be remembered as a part of our country's legacy. Our children should not be denied the joy of knowing the real story of Pocahontas. They deserve to feel pride in their American heritage--that of freedom, courage and individualism.
-- Charlotte Cushman is a Montessori educator at Minnesota Renaissance School, Anoka, Minnesota. She has been involved in the study of Ayn Rand's philosophy since 1970.
Source: John Ridpath, " This Hallowed Ground" (paper presented at Objectivist conference, Williamsburg, Virginia, July 1-7, 1992).
One point to which the author alludes needs to be expanded upon: Pocahontas/Rebecca's conversion to Christianity. This is a Faith which emphasizes a crucial truth about human nature: that we are being endowed with intelligence and free will, and we each face a struggle, a challenge, to become the people we were created to be: wise, just, benevolent, turthful, courageous, learning-oriented, able to reason with others and be reasoned-with by others.
The short way to say this is: Created in the image and likeness of God.
The right-reason propounded by the Christian faith was undoubtedly one of the things that attracted this excellent woman to embrace it, and encouraged her ability to live it.
awesome
I don’t our family ever considers any Walt Disney stories to be ‘real’. We tell our girls they are ‘movies’ which tell A story, but never the Truth.
thanks seekandfind.
Pocahontas was a big celebrity in England. Everyone wanted to meet her.
August 1610 my gx9 grandmother, at age 10, arrived at the Jamestown settlement. Actual family history is also better than fabrications, skeletons and all.
“She has been involved in the study of Ayn Rand’s philosophy since 1970.”
The AUTHOR is an Ayn Rand fan. Ayn Rand was an in your face ATHEIST so sny thing Christian would be something she would NOT mention. What a pity. She missed the MAIN POINT.
Ayn Rand’s god was MONEY. She had NO TIME for God. Her life was based on money and her personal life was that of an ally cat in heat.
When she was a child she lived in a Village located on the bluffs above the site of "the three sisters" ~ which are rocks in the Potomac between Virginia and DC ~ and also a spiritual representation of "the three sisters" called Squash, Beans and Corn which sustain human life.
Smith and company met her there.
Chief Powhatan appears to have been paying tribute to the better organized Iroquois ~ and they controlled a vast swath of territory West of the Potomac and extending in places all the way to the Mississippi ("control" being a right to tribute from tributary tribes in the interior ~ a common American Indian method of influencing folks ~ also known in Siciliy for that matter).
Although European contact wasn't all that meaningful to the Powhatan Indians it did serve to push back the Iroquois ~ who would kill them if they didn't pay the required tribute. The English would just survey the land and push them aside ~ with a little payoff for their efforts in removing the brush.
Pocahontas is not the only Indian woman to marry a white guy and move to Europe. Some analysts suggest that MOST adult Indian women living in the Mid-Atlantic married a white guy and moved to Europe. At the same time Indian men in that area found it possible to gain positions as colorful and exotic "butlers" in English homes and estates ~ and did so in huge numbers.
Of course many Indian men and Indian women died early deaths in the harsher climate and poorer diet of Europe and England, but these were not stupid people who didn't understand the value of a job, a warm house, food on the table, and other benefits of civilization.
Many movies tell the truth. If you pick them carefully enough for your kids (that means heading back to Old Hollywood and instructing the kiddies to appreciate black & white), they can grow up with a really good set of ethics.
I just showed my nephew the film The Devil and Daniel Webster. How the great lawyer and orator outsmarted The Devil (Mr. Scratch). A very beautiful, eerie film.
Thank you, Seek and Find. Another wrinkle to this story is how Pocahontas is related to the Woodsons. One of her son’s descendants (there were 12) married into the Woodson family of VA. Woodson descendents are known as Red Woodsons in contrast to the other branches of the family known as White Woodsons. One of the Woodson children survived an Indian attack by hiding in the family root cellar in the potato bin. He was the only member of his family to survive the attack and was thereafter known as “Potato Hole Woodson”, a nickname he wore proudly for the rest of his life. I don’t remember if he was a Red Woodson, or a White Woodson.
Pocahontas -- a portrait done during her visit to England. She died at 22.
Thanks for posting this item.
My waaaaaaay back grandparents were killed in the massacre at old Jamestown, led by Powhaten’s brother (Pocahontas’ uncle), wherein around 400 of the Virginia colonists died.
The man was the first of my surname to arrive in the colonies from England. Only their toddler son, about 2 years old, survived and is thought to have been raised by his maternal grandparents. Without him, my paternal line would not exist..... and neither would I.
Who was your ancestor who was killed in this attack?
The true story of Pocahontas might be fascinating, but the real history of Jamestown that isn’t taught today is that it was basically a colony based on socialist/communist principles. This was established and agreed upon by the group before they ever left England.
Upon arriving at the New World, a lot of their hardships and famine was self inflicted. Each was to work to provide for the general good, or general stores, and were to receive from the general stores what their needs were. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”... sound familiar?
As is usual in socialism or communism, people have a problem slaving away, toiling long hours and generally working their butts off when they see the next door neighbor sitting back, taking it easy and drawing from the general stores the same as the hard working ones. It doesn’t take long for a rational person to wonder why should they work like crazy just so the lazy guy next door can sit back and enjoy things, getting the same from the stores as the hard workers.
Basically, it’s easier to be lazy and steal than it is to work hard and be productive. Just take a look at our welfare state today. Why work when the gubmint will give you all you need?
So, after several winter/years of severe hardship and famine, Bradford and the settlers needed to find a better way... or die. Thus, Bradford, as governor, parceled out the land to each family for them to do what they wanted with— and reap the fruits of their labors on it for themselves. Free- enterprise or laissez faire. Private property, trade free from government intervention.
That year the colony had greater stores than ever before and started to prosper dramatically. What did Bradford write about this amazing change?
“This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content.”
Under the previous plan, communism, Bradford wrote:
“The strong … had no more in division of victuals and clothes than he that was weak and not able to do a quarter the other could; this was thought injustice…. Upon … all being to have alike, and all to do alike, they thought … one as good as another, and so … did … work diminish … the mutual respects that should be preserved amongst men.”
This is actually the real story that should be written and glorified and taught to our schoolchildren. Pocahontas is a nice story, but the real principle underlying Jamestown is that communism will not work. It has never worked, even with men of the strongest, most upright moral character, such as the Pilgrims in Jamestown. And it will never work in the future, as long as the human race is alive. I’m sure it doesn’t even work in the animal kingdom anywhere.
But Liberals will never get it through their heads. They think that if only they’re given enough money and power that they can make socialism/communism work. They will forever fail, yet will inflict the population with the results of their stupidity and ignorance of history while doing so, until their ultimate - and guaranteed - failure.
Forget Pocahontas. I want Gov. Bradford’s diaries taught in schools. They should be required reading for every grade. No child should graduate without knowing the true history of Jamestown and why it almost died... and why it subsequently prospered.
I’ve seen that! I saw it many years ago when my own kids were kids. It also was on “You Tube” awhile back in it’s entirety! Apparently, it was also titled: “All That Money Can Buy”. It’s not on there anymore, and that is a shame! Some parts of it were eerie; some were very funny, especially the end! Also, it’s interesting to note that the author of the short story that was the basis of the movie, was an anti-communist. He wrote that and other stories to warn people of communism!
My ancestors killed in the massacre at Jamestown was Godfrey Ragsdale and his wife Elizabeth Heathcote; immigrants from England to the Virginia Colony ~ 1620.
Thanks for asking. ....If you’ve done research that might reveal info on my folks, please share via private mail.
Yes, it has a wonderful performance by Walter Huston - Mr. Scratch. It’s based on a poem which became the basis of a play and then a movie. It’s available on DVD and it’s great for kids as well as adults. The trial sequence is scary!
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