Biography on the real pocahontas

The Young Peacemaker and Diplomat

Pocahontas became known by the colonists as an important Powhatan emissary. There are truly hundreds of books over the many years that have been written about her.

There’s so strong a sense in our country, at least in some places among some people, that somehow Native Americans and other disempowered people had it good—they’re the lucky ones, with special scholarships and special status.

But while he was a prisoner among the Native Americans, we know he spent some time with Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas and that they were teaching each other some basic aspects of their languages. However, Pocahontas wasn’t told of his whereabouts and assumed, after he didn’t return for several months, that he was dead. He was kidnapped by the Native Americans a few months after he got here [in spring 1607].

This goes back to Smith, who marketed their relationship as a love story. He mentioned it himself in the colonial period, as you say. But Pocahontas warned Smith of her father’s plans and saved his life again. It’s unclear what happened to Pocahontas’ first husband, but divorce was allowed in Powhatan culture. Pocahontas married Rolfe in April 1614.

Pocahontas—which translates to “playful one” or “ill-behaved child”—was her childhood nickname.

Pocahontas was the favorite daughter of Powhatan, the formidable chief of more than 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes that lived in and around the area claimed by English settlers as Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. The colonists’ mission in America was to evangelize and convert the native people to Christianity: they hoped that others would follow suit if they could convert Pocahontas.

Pocahontas’ baptism was hailed as cultural bridge-building, but it’s also likely that Pocahontas (or Rebecca) felt she had to assume a new identity as a matter of survival.

While captive at the preacher’s house, Pocahontas met another English colonist, the tobacco planter John Rolfe.

Was this a genuine love story of girl meets boy? That is very, very far from a reflection of their real historical experience. It is believed that they were suffering from pneumonia or tuberculosis. It’s a real change for them.

The other thing that’s different is that the scholarship is so much better now. The most important lesson is that she was braver, stronger and more interesting than the fictional Pocahontas.

Telling the real story of the Native “princess”

Four hundred years after Pocahontas’ death, her story is being told more accurately.