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The Powhatan Native Americans: a Historical Narrative

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The Powhatan Native Americans: a Historical Narrative The Powhatan Native Americans—A Historical Narrative Jenny Huebner Social Studies Curriculum & Instruction 4/9/08 http://jmhueb.people.wm.edu/ 1 Jenny Huebner Historical narrative Introduction Native Americans, as their name implies were the first people to inhabit what is now the United States. They peopled North America long before the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, and their origins have been contested in many myths alluding to the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel and Atlantis. The Native American tribes were not unified, and their languages numbered over 300. One language family, Algonquian, was shared by the Powhatan. The Powhatan were a group of approximately 30 tribes that inhabited the Tidewater area of Virginia and Maryland in the late 16th and early 17th century. Their history is unique in that they were in existence for approximately 80 years. Around 1570, a chief known as Wahunsonacock united these tribes by force, but they disbanded circa 1650. The arrival of English settlers, which occurred in 1607, in addition to Chief Powhatan’s death in 1618, may have contributed to the disbanding the Powhatan tribes (Feest 1990). Although Native American tribes were abundant in the past, yet had no common organizational structure, they came to share a common pattern of mistreatment from the Europeans who interacted with and dwelt among them. The Spanish came to America in the mid-16th century in search of a passage to China. Instead, they met various Algonquians with whom they traded and eventually came to view as a source of labor. In later years, French fur trappers saw the Native Americans simply as a way to acquire pelts, and missionaries viewed Native Americans as a source of potential converts. The initial contact between the Europeans and those who would later be called the Powhatan began an antagonistic relationship between the two groups. In 1570, The Spanish kidnapped a son of a chief, baptized him, renamed him Don Luis de Velasco, and took him to Spain. One year later, Don Luis returned to his people with 2 Spanish missionaries. The Algonquians accepted the introduction to metal objects and spun cloth the Spanish provided. The next year, however, Don Luis rejected his Spanish persona, returned to the mission of Jesuits with a party of war, and killed many. In retaliation, the Spanish killed 30 of Don Luis’s people. When the English set out for North America in 1584, they hoped to have more amiable relations with the Native Americans, but were understandably met with hostilities. After the “lost colony” of Roanoke failed in 1590, many speculated that Native Americans were to blame and had massacred the colonists (Feest 1990). The English’s next attempt at colonization resulted in their first permanent settlement in what would become the United States. King James I granted a charter to establish a colony in North America in 1606. The Virginia Company, a stock company hoping to capitalize on the silver and gold in Virginia, as well as find a transcontinental waterway to the Pacific Ocean, backed the expedition of the Godspeed, the Discovery, and the Susan Constant. The English were competing with the Spanish in the colonization of America, and scoffed at their rivals’ mistreatment of the Native Americans, believing that “’what the Spanyard got was chiefly the spoyle and pillage of those countrey people, and not the labors of their owne hands.’” Contrarily, the English planned to interact with the natives without “’storms of raging cruelties’” like those employed by the Spanish (from Robert Johnson’s “Note: The Indian Massacre of 1622” as quoted in Price, 2003, p.10). Rather than being outwardly kind, the Virginia Company advocated a policy of having “’great care not to offend the naturals’” and coexisting peacefully with the Native Americans. (Instructions from the London Company to the First Settlers as quoted in Price, p.31). While the English planned to avoid outwardly attacking the Indians, their referral to the Native Americans as “savages” (11) implies an air of superiority over these individuals. 3 The period from 1606, when the English first made contact with the Powhatan, to 1646, when the Powhatan Confederacy was on the brink of dissolution, is important for K-6 students to study because it addresses many major events in American history. The interactions between British colonists and Powhatan tribe members undoubtedly influenced the course of American history, as over time the English government (and later, the United States government) faced the question of what course of action to take regarding the governing of these individuals who had inhabited the land long before the newly arrived colonists. An additional reason the Powhatan people merit study is the cultural appreciation students can acquire by studying their distinctive way of life. Finally, in learning about the often unjust treatment the early English and more modern American people inflicted on the Powhatan and other Native Americans, students should come to view Native Americans as individuals who deserve respect, just like any other group of human beings. National and State Standards addressed in this unit delineate social studies skills as well as historical content that exhibits the diversity of and relations among the people living in Virginia during the early 1600s. As a whole, the unit addresses the National Social Studies Standards related to Time, Continuity, and Change; Individuals, Groups, and Institutions; and the National Geography Standards related to The World in Spatial Terms. More specific Virginia state standards are addressed in each lesson. A primary lesson teaches map skills in the context of a Powhatan village (SOLs 1.4, 1.5), and another primary lesson uses two portrayals of Pocahontas to teach historic comprehension by using the data presented in paintings (National Standards for Art Education: Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes c, Understanding the Visual Arts in Relation to History and Cultures b) . An intermediate lesson giving a biographical account of John Smith teaches students about using artifacts and primary 4 and secondary sources to interpret the past, while also presenting the reasons for English colonization and the difficulties the settlers faced (VS1, VS2). The final lesson, which is inquiry based, demonstrates the relevance of issues facing descendants of the Powhatan tribes today. By thinking critically about the reasons for and against the NCAA’s decision to remove the feathers from the College of William and Mary’s logo, students will use this event to consider similar athletic practices and the consideration of Native Americans’ opinions throughout the country as a whole. This lesson calls upon students to relate past policies of Native American treatment to those of the present (USII.3b, USII.7d). Key ideas and events Because the Jamestown settlement, started in 1607, was England’s first permanent settlement and began a long legacy of interactions with Native Americans, it follows that this is a key event in the Powhatan’s history. Within days of coming ashore, the colonists were faced with suspicious natives, who retreated when they had fired all their arrows and the English had fired back at them with rifles. Shortly thereafter, Captain Christopher Newport and a group of men who had began exploring the bay area encountered the Kecoughtan tribe and were invited to dine with them. An ambiguous relationship with the Powhatan characterized by a series of friendly and hostile events ensued as natives habitually snuck into the colonists’ settlement to pilfer trinkets like beads and meat, while the leaders of both groups maintained an air of camaraderie in face-to-face meetings (Price 2003). Captain John Smith was an English colonist who was instrumental in forming relations with the Powhatan and establishing order within the colony. As a soldier who had fought in many wars abroad, he had become skilled in communicating with foreigners and used this expertise to circumvent the language barrier between the English and the natives. His first 5 meeting with Wahunsonacock, or Chief Powhatan, as the colonists called him, came after a scuffle with the Pamunkey tribe. On his way up the Chickahominy River to search for the passageway to the Pacific, Smith’s boat encountered water that was too shallow to cross in their canoe. Smith went ahead with two of his men and to find native guides and told the remaining seven men to stay in the boat. The seven men had not seen women for over a year, as the English had brought no female colonists with them. They defied Smith’s orders to approach a group of Chickahominy women who had come near the river with the intent of attracting the colonists so their tribe could learn of the men’s intentions. The tribe was suspicious of Smith’s claim that they came simply to hunt birds, and a group of warriors chased the men away. One colonist, George Cassen, was left behind. The warriors stripped Cassen and removed all of his joints with a mussel shell before skinning and burning him. The natives possibly saw him as the devil, or sought to avenge the English for trespassing on their territory. Upon being captured and meeting Chief Powhatan, Smith again lied about why his men were in the area and touted the colonists’ impressive weapons in an attempt to intimidate Powhatan. Powhatan also spoke highly of his people’s fighting prowess and proclivity for seeking revenge against those who wronged them, while both men spoke of maintaining peace between their people (Price 2003). As the settlers learned that Powhatan was the most prominent leader among the Powhatan, King James I sought to make Powhatan a tributary prince by ordering Christopher Newport to ceremonially crown Powhatan as an English prince.
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