An Examination of the Societal Status of Women in the Jamestown Colony and Nearby Indian Villages
[ Organization of Society Main Page ] [ Teaching About Jamestown Main Page ] [ Jamestown Virtual Colony Main Page ]

Objectives:

1. Students will identify the basic lifestyles of Jamestown women and Indian women, in terms of: dress, marriage, domestic chores and outdoor duties.
2. They will determine the social status of these women in their respective communities based on the information from the above objective.
3. They will compare and contrast the aspects of Jamestown and Indian women (mentioned in Objectives #1 and #2).
4. They will derive their knowledge of Jamestown and Indian women from their analysis of primary documents, and will present their ideas to the class.

Materials: Source Excerpts, overhead projector, transparency of thought questions, chalkboard and chalk

Relevance:This lesson introduces students to different aspects of female life in the seventeenth century in the Jamestown area. This is important in that it allows the students to realize that women, as well as the men, played an important role in their societies. Contrasting the Indian and Jamestown women is relevant in that it illustrates how, although quite different, these women were similar in some ways. The development of this understanding can allow the students to realize that although today women in different cultures differ in their places in society and customs, they do share some similarities.

Involvement of the Learners: The teacher will ask the class what the standard role of women is today in the United States. Is it the same all over the world? Has it always been what it is today? What sort of factors define a womanís role.

Organization: Teacher will be responsible for monitoring student discussion in groups, in order to ensure critical thinking, and total participation. The teacher is also responsible for ensuring that the students include all relevant information in their presentations. The students will be responsible for a particular task in their group, in addition to participating in analyzing the documents. They will be responsible for answering critical questions about women's roles in society at the end of the lesson.

Central Questions: What were the Jamestown and Indian women like in the areas of household duties, outdoor chores, marriage, dress? What does each of these categories tell us about their role in their respective societies? How are their roles similar and how are they different? (An outline of content has been provided.

Explanation/Activity:

1. The teacher will tell students to count off from one to four around the room. The ones will be in a group, the twos, and so forth.
2. The teacher will tell them that each group needs to assign two reporters who will tell the class what they learned, one secretary, and one taskmaster who will lead the discussion.
3. The teacher will tell the ones to go to one corner of the room, the twos to another, and so forth.
4. The students will form their groups.
5. The teacher will pass out the primary source packet to each group, asking the students to discuss what they can infer about the Indian and Jamestown women from the packet. The students will be expected to place their findings in a two-column chart, separating the characteristics of the Jamestown women and the Indian women. The sub-categories of each will include: dress, marriage, domestic duties, outdoor chores, place in society, The teacher will stress the need to show support from the documents for their statements.
6. The teacher will walk around the room to guide students' learning, answer questions, and ensure they are working.
7. After 15 minutes, the teacher will have each group report on their findings.
8. The teacher will write each answer on the board in two columns: Indian women and Jamestown women. The teacher will make sure the students tell why (from the documents) they came to these conclusions.

Closure: Once each group has had a turn, the teacher will put a critical thought question sheet on the overhead. The teacher will let any student volunteer to answer these questions.

Homework: The teacher will have the students write a short journal entry (1-2 pages) from either the Indian or Jamestown woman's point of view, on what life in the Jamestown colony or area was like. The students should be creative, but will need to address the various aspects of their respective womanís life in this narrative. They will be graded on doing so.

This page was last updated on and is maintained by the UVA's Program in Social Studies Education.
URL for this page: http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu.