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Lesson plan: Disney's Pocahontas: Fact or Fiction?
- An Investigation of the Powhatan Indians of Virginia -
By Eric Powell (Stafford High School)
Level: High school
Overview:
All students bring previous knowledge into the classroom. Much of their
historical experience comes from the movies and television. Very often
dramatic license is taken by film makers and the story is sometimes altered.
Disney's Pocahontas is a case in point.
Our job as history teachers is to open student minds to a broader
perspective, to have them question what is presented, and to search out the
complete picture based on primary sources and historical evidence. Many
students now in middle and high school have seen the movie Pocahontas
and it provides an excellent opportunity to introduce students to such study.
Background:
Most students come into upper level U.S. History class with some basic
knowledge of the story of Jamestown. In 1607 Jamestown was established by
the Virginia Company of London. Its 104 settlers became the first permanent
English colony in North America. Survival of the colony is often credited to
Captain John Smith. Smith helped to organize the
colonists to work towards survival foremost. His 1624 journal, The General
History of Virginia, is one of the earliest documents of American history,
especially of his explorations and relations with the Powhatan Indian
Confederation.
The most famous among these stories is the tale of his life being saved by
Powhatan's daughter, Pocahontas. This curious young 12 year-old princess
spent a large amount of time around the settlement at Jamestown. She
eventually married John Rolfe, the developer of the tobacco hybrid that made
Virginia profitable, not John Smith. She was baptized Rebecca and the couple later
had a son. While in London for two years, she caught small pox and died.
The story's confusion comes first from John Smith's journal in which he
described being captured by Powhatan. In what Smith perceived was an
execution, Pocahontas threw herself over him begging her father to spare his
life. Critics note that Smith recounts similar stories of being saved by a
princess in his tales from Turkey and Poland. However, it is Disney that
implants the idea of a romance between Pocahontas and John Smith. The movie
depicts her as a voluptuous young woman and Smith, with Mel Gibson's voice,
is portrayed as a young, blonde, muscular, swashbuckler. John Rolfe is not
even in the film. Furthermore the scenery is all wrong with the coastal
plain of Virginia containing cliffs and waterfalls. Of positive note is the
acceptable portrayal of their dress, housing, and hair styles. We have moved
beyond the old western portrayal of all Native Americans as Plains Indians.
These are the issues the students should be guided into discovering, as well
as other questions they themselves bring up.
Objectives:
The student will:
Identify figures such as John Smith, Pocahontas, John Rolfe, & Powhatan. Describe American Indian culture in Virginia at the time of European contact. Explain the sequence of events which led to the establishment of Jamestown. Develop inquiry and investigation skills. Examine primary source, secondary source, and archaeological evidence. Draw conclusions of the historical accurateness stories surrounding the Jamestown
settlement.
Standards of Learning:
11.1 The student will analyze and explain the contacts between American
Indians and European settlers during the Age of Discovery, in terms of
economic and cultural characteristics of the groups motives and strategies of the explorers and settlers impact of European settlement on the American Indians legacies of contact, cooperation, and conflict from that period
Time Required:
This lesson will require two to four days to successfully complete, depending
upon the age, reading, and comprehension level of the students involved.
Materials:
KWL Transparency Transparency Map of Indians of Virginia Timeline Transparency Overhead Projector 20 Minute Movie Clip from Disney's Pocahontas VCR and Television Class Room Set of Reading Packet
Cotter, John L., "Architecture at Jamestown: Seventeenth Century and
Beyond," Archaeology Magazine, July 1976, 152-157.
Egloff, Keith and Woodward, Deborah, First People: The Early Indians of
Virginia, Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1992, 35-45.
(for copies of entire book contact the Virginia Dept. of Historic Resources)
Robinson, Marion Brooks, Pocahontas: The Virginia Princess, Stafford
County Historical Society. (included with permission from Marion Robinson, for
additional copies contact the Stafford County
Historical Society)
Smith, John, General History of Virginia, 1624.
Lesson Plan:
Day One
Introduction of Lesson: KWL
Place the KWL Transparency on overhead projector. Ask students what they already know about the settlement of Jamestown.
Place these items in the Know (K) column of the chart. Next ask students what they would like to know about the settlement.
Place these items in the Want to Know (W) column of the chart. At this point the teacher should discuss the SOLs being addressed in
lesson. Discuss main ideas to be focused on and a brief agenda of the
lesson. Finally, as a conclusion to the lesson, come back to the chart and have
the students complete the learned column as a method of review.
Movie Clip: Disney's Pocahontas
Before class begins select a twenty-minute clip from the movie which
represents many of the myths and historic inaccuracies portrayed in the
film. If possible find several shorter clips and edit them together in
a twenty-minute out-take. After completing the KWL, introduce the movie segment. Prepare students
to search for things they find inaccurate in the film based on what they
know. During the viewing of the clip, direct the students' attention toward
certain aspects you want them to notice. After watching the film, lead the students in a discussion of the
inaccuracies of the movie. Make a class list on the board. Ask
students how historians go back and research such events. Discuss
what primary sources and artifacts are, then how they think historians and
archaeologists go about finding such information.
Homework:
Distribute reading packets to students. Introduce readings to students. Explain the reading schedule to students (a calendar or handout is
possible). The reading schedule will vary on the number of days the teacher wishes
to spend on the lesson, as well as the ability of the students. For an
advanced high school class, it could be done in one night. Other
classes may need more time and the readings can be divided into two
nights with the Cotter and Egloff excerpts the first and the Robinson
and Smith articles the second.
Days Two and Three
Introduction:
Open each of the next few days with a brief discussion of their reading.
Answer their questions and get feedback on their comprehension. Discuss with
them the difference between primary and secondary sources. Ask them what
sources were used by the authors of the secondary source articles. Discuss
historical and archaeological techniques.
Lecture:
Transition into lecture and discussion by focusing students on accurate
accounts of events. Place timeline on overhead with only the top few events
showing. Discuss the formation of coastal tribes and the Powhatan
Confederacy. Define "confederacy."
Place the map of Virginia Indians on overhead to demonstrate where major
tribes were located around the state. Discuss the diversity of native
cultures, as well as generalize some similarities. Refer students to Egloff
and Woodward book and the Cotter article, especially the John White sketches
of the Secoton Indians in North Carolina. Ask students how this compares to
what they saw in the movie.
Place transparency back on overhead and give students timeline of the
establishment of Jamestown. Discuss major characters and events. At this
time work in a discussion of the movie and how the facts differ from the
film. Refer to Robinson article and Smith excerpt for information on the
saving of Smith's life. Ask students why even primary resources must be used
cautiously.
Uncover the sequence of events surrounding Pocahontas' relationship with John
Rolfe. Discuss her acceptance of English religion of customs, her new name
Rebecca, and the birth of her son. Emphasize the role of John Rolfe in the
development of the Virginia tobacco economy. Ask students their opinions of
Pocahontas and the tragedy of her death.
Finally, disclose the final events on the timeline and discuss the demise of
the Powhatan Confederation through wars and treaties. Discuss other impacts
Europeans had on the Native Americans in North American.
Final Day
Conclusion:
After the appropriate days of discussion, ask students what they think of the
Disney movie Pocahontas. Have the students develop three accurate portrayals
and three inaccurate depictions in the film. Discuss the role of primary
sources in learning history and the role of archaeologists in uncovering
facts about the past. Place KWL transparency on overhead and have students
fill out the learned column.
Evaluation:
Foremost will be teacher observation of and feedback from students during
class discussion of readings. Teacher may include quizzes to check student
reading.
Have students write an essay on the story of Pocahontas and her portrayal
throughout history. They should include excerpts from their readings and the
movie where appropriate and give their opinion of her as the Virginia
Princess.
Timeline of Powhatan Indians and Jamestown
circa 1500 Powhatan Chiefdom Created 1525 First European Contact with Indians in Virginia 1584 Attempted English Colony at Roanoke Island, N.C. 1607 Jamestown Established 1608 John Smith Captured by Powhatan 1609 John Smith Returns to England 1614 Pocahontas Marries John Rolfe 1615 Thomas Rolfe, son of Pocahontas and John Rolfe, born 1616 Rolfe family visits England 1617 Pocahontas dies in England 1618 Powhatan dies in Virginia 1622 First Opechancanough War 1634 Thomas Rolfe returns to Virginia 1644 Second Opechancanough War 1646 Opechancanough Dies 1677 Powhatans give up all lands in Treaty 1722 Powhatans believed extinct
Excerpt from General History of Virginia by John Smith, 1624.
At last they brought him to Meronocomoco, where was Powhatan, their
emperor. Here more than two hundred of those grim courtiers stood wondering
at him, as he had been a monster; till Powhatan and his train had put
themselves in their greatest braveries. Before a fire upon a seat like a
bedstead, he sat covered with a great robe, made of raccoon skins, and all
the tails hanging by. On either hand did a sit a young wench of sixteen or
eighteen years, and along on each side the house, two rows of men, and behind
them as many women, with all their heads bedecked with the white down of
birds, but everyone 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 Appamatuck was appointed to bring him water to wash his hands, and
another brought him a bunch of feathers, instead of a towel, to dry them.
Having feasted him after their best barbarous manner they could, a long
consultation was held, but the conclusion was, two great stones were brought
before Powhatan: then as many as could laid hands on him, 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 his 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; for they thought him as well of
all occupations as themselves. For the King himself will make his own robes,
shoes, bows, arrows, pots; plant, hunt, or do anything so well as the rest.
Two days after, Powhatan having disguised himself in the most fearfulest
manner he could, caused Captain Smith to be brought forth to a great house in
the woods, and there upon a mat by the fire to be left alone. Not long
after, from behind a mat that divided the house, was made the most dolefulest
noise he ever heard; then Powhatan, more like a devil than a man, came unto
him and told him now they were friends, and presently he should go to
Jamestown, to send him two great guns and a grindstone, for which he would
give him the country of Capahowosick, and forever esteem him as his son
Nantaquoud.
So to Jamestown with twelve guides Powhatan sent him. That night they
quartered in the woods, he still expecting (as he had done all this long time
of his imprisonment) every hour to be put to one death or other, for all
their feasting. But almighty God (by his divine providence) had mollified
the hearts of those stern barbarians with compassion. The next morning
betimes they came to the fort, where Smith having used the savages with what
kindness he could, he showed Rawhunt, Powhatan's trusty servant, two
demiculverins and a millstone to carry to Powhatan: they found them somewhat
too heavy; but when they did see him discharge them, being loaded with
stones, among the boughs of a great tree loaded with icicles, the ice and
branches came so tumbling down that the poor savages ran away half dead with
fear. But at last we regained some conference with them, and gave them some
toys, and sent to Powhatan, his women, and children such presents, as gave
them in general full content.
Now in Jamestown they were all in combustion, the strongest preparing
once more to run away with the pinnace; which with the hazard of his life,
with saker falcon and musket shot, Smith forced now the third time to stay or
sink.
Some no better than they should be, had plotted with the President, the
next day to have put him to death by the Levitical law, for the lives of
Robinson and Emry, pretending the fault was his that had led them to their
ends: but he quickly took such order with such lawyers that he laid them by
the heels till he sent some of them prisoners for England.
Now every once in four or five days, Pocahontas, with her attendants,
brought him so much provision that saved many of their lives that else for
all this had starved with hunger.
His relation of the plenty he had seen, especially at Werawocomoco, and
of the state and bounty of Powhatan (which till that time was unknown), so
revived their dead spirits (especially the love of Pocahontas) as all men's
fear was abandoned.
Thus you may see what difficulties still crossed any good endeavor; and
the good success of the business being thus oft brought to the very period of
destruction; yet you see by what strange means God hath delivered it.
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