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PEOPLE IN AMERICA - October 13, 2002: Pocahontas
By Shelley Gollust
VOICE 1:
People in America, a program in Special English on the Voice of America.
(Theme)
She lived almost four hundred years ago in what became the American state of Virginia.
She was the first Native American to marry a white person. I'm Shirley Griffith.
VOICE 2:
And I'm Ray Freeman. Today, we tell about Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief of the
Powhatan [POW-a-tan] Indian tribe.
(Theme)
VOICE 1:
Pocahontas was born in fifteen-ninety-five. She was one of twenty children of Chief Powhatan. Powhatan ruled a
group of more than twenty Indian tribes in territory that is now the eastern state of Virginia.
In sixteen-oh-seven, the Virginia Company in England sent colonists to settle the land that later became the
United States of America. The leader of the English settlers was John Ratcliffe. He claimed the land for King
James of England. He named the new colony Jamestown, Virginia. The English colonists did not know that the
area already was settled by Indians.
VOICE 2:
The Powhatan Indians lived in the area where the English colonists landed. They were part of a large group of
American tribes who spoke the Algonquian language. The Powhatans had lived in the area for almost one-
thousand years. They built villages. They grew beans, corn, squash and melons. They created a strong political
system, led by powerful chiefs like Powhatan. His power and wealth were evident.
Women of the tribes controlled the houses and the fields. They made clothing of animal skins and containers of
clay. Men hunted and fished for food. Both men and women wore earrings and other objects made of shells,
pearls and copper.
The young Pocahontas often visited Jamestown during the colony's first months. She was about twelve years old.
The colonists knew her well. She became an important link between the colonists and her father, Powhatan.
VOICE 1:
The Indians' culture was very different from that of the English settlers. The two groups did not understand each
other. The misunderstandings led to hostile incidents between the colonists and the Indians.
John Smith was an explorer, soldier and a leader of the Jamestown colony. He was captured in sixteen-oh-seven
by followers of Powhatan. Captain Smith wrote about this incident in a book that was published in sixteen-
twenty-four. He wrote that Pocahontas saved him from being executed by Powhatan. This story has been
repeated for hundreds of years. This is what most people know about Pocahontas.
VOICE 2:
Most historians, however, do not believe that Pocahontas saved the life of John Smith. Some believe that Captain
Smith invented the story after reading about a similar event that took place in Florida. That event involved a
captured Spanish explorer, an Indian chief and the chief's daughter.
Some historians do not believe that John Smith's life was in danger. They say that what captain Smith thought
was to be his execution was really an Indian ceremony. The ceremony was meant to show that Powhatan
accepted Smith as part of his tribe. Historians say the Indian chief wanted to make the English colonists his allies.
VOICE 1:
After Captain Smith's capture, the Indians and the colonists agreed to a truce. Pocahontas visited Jamestown
more often. She may not have really saved John Smith's life. But most experts agree that Pocahontas helped the
colonists. She brought them corn when they were starving. She once was said to have warned the colonists about
a surprise attack by the Indians.
John Smith had been wounded during his capture. He returned to England. Hostilities once again broke out
between the Indians and the English settlers. In sixteen-eleven, Thomas Dale became acting governor of the
colony. He started a new aggressive policy toward the Indians. Two years later, an English soldier, Samuel
Argall, kidnapped Pocahontas. She was about eighteen years old. The colonists kidnapped her because they
wanted to prevent more attacks by the Indians. They also wanted to force Chief Powhatan to negotiate a peace
agreement.
VOICE 2:
Pocahontas lived as a hostage in the Jamestown settlement for more than a year. A colonist, John Rolfe, taught
her English. He also taught her the Christian religion. Pocahontas was the first native American to become
Christian. She changed her name to Rebecca.
In sixteen-fourteen, she married John Rolfe in the church in Jamestown. She was the first Indian woman to marry
a white man. Her husband believed that their marriage would be good for the colony. John Rolfe said he married
Pocahontas "for the honor of our country, for the glory of God."
VOICE 1:
Governor dale immediately opened negotiations with Powhatan. The result was a period of peace that lasted for
about eight years.
Pocahontas' husband was a tobacco grower. She taught him the Indian way of planting tobacco. This method
improved the tobacco crop. Tobacco later became America's first successful crop.
VOICE 2:
In sixteen-fifteen, Pocahontas and John Rolfe had a son. They named him Thomas. The next year Pocahontas and
her family sailed to England for a visit. In London, she was treated like a famous person. She was officially
presented to King James the first. She also met John Smith again.
The Virginia Company said her visit proved that it was possible to have good relations between the English
colonists and the Indians. The company urged more people to move from England to the Virginia colony.
Pocahontas had her picture painted while visiting England. She is wearing the clothes she wore when she met the
king. They are the kind of clothes that were popular in England in the sixteen-hundreds. This picture is the only
one that really is of her.
VOICE 1:
Pocahontas and her family stayed in England for seven months. They prepared to return to Jamestown. But
Pocahontas became sick with smallpox. She died from the disease. She was buried in Gravesend, England. She
was twenty-two years old.
Her son, Thomas Rolfe, was raised in England. When he was twenty, he returned to Virginia. He lived as a settler
in his mother's native land. He married and had a daughter. Through Thomas Rolfe, a number of famous
Virginians have family ties to Pocahontas. These families are proud to claim their ties to Pocahontas. They call
her "Virginia's first lady."
VOICE 2:
Pocahontas left no writings of her own. The only reports about her from the time were written by John Smith. His
reports may not all have been true. Yet the story of her rescue of captain Smith became a popular folk story.
Americans know that Pocahontas played a part in the early history of Virginia. They remember her bravery and
friendship. Americans also remember her for what she represented as a native American: the hope of close
relations between the white people and the Indians.
VOICE 1:
Pocahontas is honored in the United States capitol building in Washington, D.C. There are three art works of her
in the large, round, main hall of the capitol. There are more representations of her than any other American
except for the nation's first president, George Washington. The three art works show the popular stories about
Pocahontas. One is a painting of Pocahontas taking part in a religious ceremony in which she became a Christian.
Two others show her saving the life of Captain John Smith.
VOICE 2:
Many different American groups have used the name and some version of a picture of Pocahontas. Whale hunters
in the nineteenth century named ships after Pocahontas in honor of her bravery. They also put small statues of her
on their ships.
Both the Confederate forces in the South and the Union forces in the North used her name or picture during the
American Civil War. A picture of Pocahontas was on the flag of a division of Confederate forces called the guard
of the daughters of Powhatan. Union forces named a warship after the Indian woman.
Many American writers have written about Pocahontas. The Walt Disney Company produced a popular children's
movie about her.
VOICE 1:
Today, visitors to the Jamestown settlement in Virginia can see what life was like there in the sixteen-hundreds.
They can see copies of the ships that brought the English settlers. And they can see statues of three of the people
important in early America: John Smith, Chief Powhatan, and his daughter -- Pocahontas.
(Theme)
VOICE 2:
This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Ray
Freeman.
VOICE 1:
And I'm Shirley Griffith. Listen again next week for another People in America program on the Voice of
America.
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