Pocahontas and John Smith
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Set:

Objectives:

1. Students will evaluate documents from primary sources, the media, and the World Wide Web.

2. Students will identify the difference between primary and secondary sources.

3. Students will identify which source their find the most reliable.

4. Student will compare and contrast the factual or fictional accounts from both web sites and documents about whether Pocahontas saved Captain John Smith.

Rationale:

Students at the high school level will verbally and mentally note the difference between inaccurate information on web sites and the reasons for biases as opposed to the reliability of actual documents. Students will use the information from the web sites of the Powhatan Nation and Disney as well as historical documents to draw conclusions about the whether there Pocahontas saving Captain John Smith is fact or fiction. Students will also be shown through multimedia sources the difference in Disney's image of Pocahontas and John Smith compared to actual portraits. Students will then use the information from the various sources to back up their opinion on Pocahontas saving John Smith as well as evaluating the accuracy of these sources.

Involvement of Lesson:

Instructor will involve students by asking them what they know about Pocahontas and John Smith, taken from the pervious lessons on Jamestown. Teacher will write out students previous knowledge about Pocahontas and Captain John Smith on the board. Teacher will then take a vote of how many students think that Pocahontas saved Captain John Smith as opposed to how many students do not believe that Pocahontas saved Smith. Teacher may record the number of "Yays" vs. "Nays" on the board.

Explanation:

A.

1. Instructor will state purpose of lesson (from the "rationale" paragraph).

2. Instructor will give a brief overview of students opinions on the board.

3. Teacher will ask students to define the difference between primary and secondary sources

(primary sources defined as documents from the time period, records, journals or interviews;

secondary sources defined as an author or another source commenting on a primary

source or historical event and giving opinions, sometimes biased).

4. Instructor will ask which they would rather use to back up their opinions.

5. Students will then be asked to tell why one is more accurate than the other.

B.

1. Instructor will then give copies of the link to the Powhatan Nation web site called "The

Pocahontas Myth" and "The One Called Pocahontas" (See list of Materials at end). Teacher

may ask students to read aloud this information.

 

2. Instructor will ask students what are the sources of these documents and have students

discuss what the biases are of this information.

3. Teacher will ask students if these documents have changed their opinion.

C.

1. Instructor will give students a copy of the second web site about Disney's Pocahontas.

2. Students will read aloud the short notation about the film and will be asked by the

instructor to notice the pictures of John Smith and Pocahontas.

3. Teacher will then show a ten minute excerpt from Disney's film Pocahontas, which shows

Disney's image of both Pocahontas and John Smith and shows Disney's version of

Pocahontas rescuing John Smith.

 

4. Instructor will then give students the portraits of Pocahontas at http://www.apva.org/history

/pocahont.html and John Smith at http://www.apva.org/history/jsmith.html

 

D.

1. Teacher will lead a discussion for five minutes on the differences in Disney's

characterization/ image of Pocahontas and John Smith versus the portraits. Teacher will

ask students to note the difference, if any, in these two sources. Teacher will ask the students why Disney portrayed Smith and Pocahontas in the likeness they did.

2. Instructor will then point students back to their hand-outs from the homepages of the

Powhatan Nation and the critique on Disney's portrayal of Pocahontas. Teacher will

engage students in a 15-20 minute discussion on how the story of Pocahontas from

the Powhatan Nation and Disney differ. Students will be asked which argument they find

more convincing. Students will also be asked what the biases are of the web sites and the

Disney film.

 

E.

1. Instructor will then show students the final example of sources. These sources are

primary, taken from Smith's testimony and the author's interpretation of it, and Smith's

journal. Teacher will have students read aloud this information.

 

2. Having all the information, teacher will ask students which documents are primary and

which are secondary, re-defining the definition between the two if needed.

 

3. Instructor will ask students which documents they would use to in an essay or debate to

define the truth behind the John Smith/Pocahontas incident.

 

4. Instructor will ask students whether or not they believe Pocahontas really saved John

Smith from her father.

 

5. Instructor will lead discussion on whether the sources persuaded some students to change

their previous opinions and why.

Closure:

Instructor will ask students these questions to discuss the material learned:

A. Literal Questions:

1. How do primary and secondary sources differ?

B. Interpretive Questions:

1. Which web site did you find to have the best information?

2. Were neither web sites accurate?

C. Evaluative Question:

Teacher will ask students and discuss:

1. How does the medium of web sites and films portray history?

2. Are these mediums reliable?

3. Does one source hold more truth than the other and help change your opinion?

4. Will historians ever know for certain if Pocahontas saved Captain John Smith?

Materials:

A. The scene from Disney's Pocahontas where Pocahontas saves Captain John Smith.

B. Hand-outs from two World Wide Web homepages: The Powhatan Nation homepage and a Pocahontas homepage:

The Powhatan-Renape Nation Website

The Real Pocahontas

C. Actual portraits of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas.

D. Smith's testimony at a trial about the Virginia Company in which he stated that Pocahontas had saved his life (below).

E. Excerpts from Captain Smith's journal (in testimony)

See Bibliography (at end of lesson).

The 1623 References to Pocahontas

"Smith twice referred to the Pocahontas episode in 1623. In May or early June he testified before the

commissioners appointedby King Charles I to inquire into the Virginia Company. During the course

of Smith's sworn testimony before the commissioners, he said: 'Six weeks I was led captive by those

Barbarians, though some of my men were slaine, and the rest fled, yet it pleased God to make their

great King's daughter the means to returne me safe to James towne' (2:323).

Smith told no details about how Pocahontas saved him, and a long account of his captivity would

have been out of place in his testimony, but the gist of the statement was clear: Pocahontas had in some

way saved him during his captivity.

In the fall of 1623 Smith published the broadside prospectus for his Generall Historie . Outlining

the events to be discussed in his third book, Smith noted: 'Powhatan entertained him, would have

slaine him, and his daughter saved his life' (2:11). In Generall Historie itself Smith referred to the

Pocahontas incident three times. Smith catagorized Pocahontas as the third or fourth of his foreign

ladies to befriend him:

'Yet my comfort is, that heretofore honorable and vertuous

Ladies, and comparable but amongst themselves, have offered

me rescue and protection in my greatest dangers... In the

upmost of many extremities, that blessed Pocahontas, the

great Kings daughter of Virginia, oft saved my life.'"

 

Smith writes frequently about women who have saved him. He is known throughout history

as arrigant and a bit egotistical. But did he lie about Pocahontas saving him?

 

 

(Courtesy of Lemay, J.A. Leo, [1992] Did Pocahontas Save Captain John Smith?

 

Chief Roy Crazy Horse (No Date). The Powhatan-Renape Nation [Online},

Available: http://www.powhatan.org/ [1997, October 29]

 

Morenus, David (No Date). The Real Pocahontas [Online] Available:

http://pocahontas.morenus.org [1997, November 4]

 

Lemay, J.A. Leo, [1992]. Did Pocahontas Save Captain John Smith?

University of Georgia Press

 

Walt Disney Film Studios (1995). Pocahontas [Video]. Available Disney Films

Emerson, Emerson, (1993). Captain John Smith Twayne Publishers

New York

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