Pocahontas

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

People in America, a program in Special English on the Voice of
America.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

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 TWO:

And I'm Ray Freeman. Today, we tell about Pocahontas, the
daughter of the chief of the Powhatan [POW-a-tan] Indian tribe.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

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 TWO:

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 ONE:

The Indians' culture was very different from that of the English
settlers. The two groups did not understand each other. The
mis-understandings 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 TWO:

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 ONE:

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 TWO:

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 ONE:

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 TWO:

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 ONE:

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 TWO:

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 ONE:

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 TWO:

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 ONE:

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.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It
was produced by Lawan Davis. I'm Ray Freeman.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Shirley Griffith. Listen again next week for another
People in America program on the Voice of America.