The Pocahontas Exception
When White People Wanted to Be a Little Bit Native American But Still Remain White
Pocahontas was a real person, though much of what you may have heard about her isn’t. She was one of dozens of children born to Native American Chief Powhatan, the principal chief in an alliance of several tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy known as Tsenacommacah. The legend is that she saved captive John Smith from execution and negotiated peace between Powhatan and the English settlers. Both things are probably false. Smith never mentioned Pocahontas in his writings until 1624, when she was famous. There came a time in 1613 when the English kidnapped Pocahontas to pressure her father during ongoing negotiations.
While in captivity, Pocahontas was converted to Christianity and is alleged to have fallen in love with her captor, John Rolfe. They were married in April of 1614 and later had a son, Thomas. I have a technical term when a captive woman has a physical relationship with the man holding her; rape, but that didn’t make its way into the legend. Neither is the fact that Pocahontas was already married to another tribe member when captured and had a living son.
Though Thomas Rolfe was Pocahontas’s only child, Thomas went on to have a daughter, Jane Rolfe, who had one son, John. Virginia didn’t keep birth records…
