She was just a child of ten years or so when she encountered John Smith and was dead by twenty. Truly disgusting what the European colonisers did to her and her people.
Ummm @@cxa011500 They're all together responsible for that outcome.. That's a sad but true story of the reality that they are in different ways, responsible for.... GENOCIDE that is factually not over. Not by any means. Looking at the rate of the murder and disappearances of native women and The disregard for their people.. Also the MANY pipeline cases that are imposed on their landscape that are threatening the water and the sanctity of the last few acres of sanctuary ALLOWED to them after the countless amounts of retracted contracts with the literal federal government, to name the most obvious elements of the Genocidal practices they endure
@@cxa011500 Those two men didn't operate in a vacuum. The entire system was set up to support and protect many man like Smith and Rolfe for hundreds of years. So, it wasn't just those two guys and their immediate friends, it was everyone who didn't stop them.
I tell you what, wanting to know more about the real Pocahontas after watching the Disney movie was one hell of a betrayal. Pretty sure that’s the beginning of how constantly frustrated I am at how distorted history is to hide the horrible things the US and other countries have done across the centuries. Thanks for radicalizing me, Disney!
Disney animation shows aren't documentaries, they are meant to be entertainment with the understanding that children are watching. This is not to say that this makes it Disney's depiction okay, because things were obviously worse than the Disney animation show and leaves children growing up with a false tale, a tale that is akin to the false tale of Washington chopping a cherry tree and saying "I cannot tell a lie." But also, don't expect a 100% true to life story if entertainment is the primary goal.
@@markadams7046 I mean. I was like 6 when the movie came out, so it’s not like I had that understanding yet. If anything, it makes how badly Disney warped the history worse imo. But don’t worry, my history classes were also hard at work sanitizing history and I wouldn’t be unpacking that until goddamn college. 8)
@@markadams7046 Most people are children when they first watch Disney movies, and I hate to break it to you but children aren't exactly known for their understanding of detailed history, context, nuance, or even mythology, which is what this kind of steep sterilization works out to being. And it's not like much US history is taught with much more nuance or historical reality than Disney cartoons, until college if you're lucky or certain AP classes if you're even luckier.
When I say with children in mind, I mean they are not going to depict extremely violent and horrific events that happened in real life. It would just be too much for the young minds to grasp without some degree of trauma, so they obviously can't portray those truths.@@RevShifty
@@markadams7046 They can definitely at least acknowledge them in some fashion. Absolutely no one is saying it needs graphic depiction. But cannibalizing and then sanitizing a genuinely terrible story just to release it on the anniversary to help sell the fantasy and gain all the extra clout isn't doing anyone but Disney any good. And people don't get to be surprised when those same children grow up, learn a bit of the actual story, and then have a problem with what Disney did. There were plenty of people blasting them for it at the time. I was barely a teenager myself and had already stopped watching Disney anything years before then, but I still remember comedians and the like mortified by what Disney did with that movie.
I was already a young adult when Pocahontas came out, and I remember native peoples across the country speaking up about this very thing. Even white people were like "WTF is this, Disney."
I was also one of those white people, lol. I tried watching it for the first time years after the original release during a Disney marathon with the family, so we could say we finally caught up and watched all the animated films. I could only barely make it past the opening credits before i had to tap out from how whitewashed it felt. Still have never seen it, and don't have any plan to.
Really? Even white people? I had no idea it was that disliked. I first watched it as a child and was only exposed to it being liked. Thats interesting. Honestly, I look back and feel revolted and appalled it was even made.
I just find it viscerally disgusting that Disney includes their version of Pocahontas in the Princess brand to this day. It’s the most racist movie they’ve made in the last 40 years at least. With their other movies like this, they try to downplay it: no Peter Pan merchandise includes Tiger Lily, and you’ll never see the slave centaur from Fantasia anytime soon. But since they’re so short on positive role models for Native American girls, this real life victim of horrific violence is slapped on backpacks and soup cans for little girls to consume.
Not only that, she wasn't a princess in any way. Most Native American nations did not have royalty. I think the closest to royalty would be such civilizations as the Maya, Aztec, Inka, etc., but not in the European understanding. It's a perpetuation of the legend that John Smith himself started, and there's at least one good reason for doubting the whole 'saved by Pocahontas' claim: medieval stories were full of the daughters of non-Christian sultans and kings falling for the knightly Christian protagonists. (The other is that Smith liked to stretch the truth and even lie.) And we desperately want the whole thing to be a romantic story rather than one of kidnapping, rape, and abuse.
Good point. Disney merchandise also doesn't include the crows from Dumbo, the cats from Lady and the Tramp, and the orangutan from Jungle Book. That would be so uncomfortable, and that is putting it mildly.
I'd have to agree. As a child I loved pocahontas. I still known the songs in the movie almost 35 yrs later. I also got curious about the real pocahontas and did my research. I was a mega nerd in elementary and middle school lol. I was appalled by what I found. Was probably 8 or 9 at the time. Really changed how I saw things at a very pivotal moment in my young life.
The sad thing is that that movie had the most effort done to distinguish each tribe as different with actual native dialect. If they had just done a separate story that wasn’t tied to Pocahontas, done with a completely made up native girl and trying to keep peace in a racist world, it would have been fine. But the distortion of Pocahontas’ story based off of a myth that was twisted itself from the horrible truth to make the colonists look like victims is what makes it hard to sit through
On one level, w/ Pocahontas, Disney did what they ALWAYS do: they appropriate a story and repackage it for mass marketing. They were simply less subtle than usual. But, thanks to their manipulation of copyright terms, they will continue to profit off their Disneyfied Pocahontas for the foreseeable future. Recognizing her as the first documented instance of MMIW is long overdue.
This is one of those stories that makes me wish for a different UA-cam button, one that give the creators credit for their good work, but doesn’t necessitate tapping a thumbs up button for such a horrific, ongoing tragedy. Thank you for helping to re-educate those of us who were underserved by the prevailing educational system.
@@teovu5557Firstly, James was her husband. Thomas was her son. Secondly, he wasn't her only child. Or only son, for that matter. Before being taken by the British, she had children with her first husband
@@teovu5557 I'm not lying. I did make a mistake, however. Because both James and John begin with J, somehow I confused the two. However, where did you get James Rowdy from? Look it up anywhere. Her son was Thomas Rolfe. You might have gotten confused because Jane was the name of Thomas's daughter, but where did Rowdy come from? According to the national park service, there is evidence indicating that Pochahontas and Kocoum had a child
Thank you for sharing this knowledge. I'm not a Native American woman, but I am very familiar with MMIP and they very seldom get any media attention. Regardless of racial/ethnic identity, we all need to change this for the better. They deserve justice, too. ✊🏾❤
It's appalling to me how many non-indigenous women willfully choose to only see their race's anti-female atrocities. When in actuality we could be offering a gigantic network of support and visibility. It's not merely the responsibility of those who are victimized by this brand of bigotry and violence, but the responsibility of those who have strength in numbers to bring awareness and change to those who need support most. I forget who said that until all are free none truly are.
I didn't even know about MMIP before watching this. I can't believe that something so horrific is happening in the western world in this day and age and barely anyone bats an eye. It's appalling how little attention is on this issue... people should be rioting to put an end to this and not ignore it.
I second this. I didn't even know about MMIP and these issues until now and I'm so greatful I was told about them in this video. It's horrific that not only something like this happens in the western world in this day and age but also that barely anyone pays attention to it.
Sadly it was when I was a kid and this cartoon came out that I was introduced to this wanting to read more as a little nerdy girl about it. What happened to her and how John Smith and John Rolfe did to her and exploited her for gain made me sickened at the western colonist.
Thank you so much for this. When Disney's Pocahontas came out, my kids were prime age to market to. I was not about to let their version of her story be my kids' default. I knew the truth and was so horrified that Disney was selling a child predator as a hero, and his young prey as a romantic heroine. Every time we turned down an opportunity to watch it was an opportunity to teach, tho.
Another thing they didn't touch on... A high percentage of Native men and women were forced to be sterilized in the 50s-90s while being treated for non related procedures.
Especially in Arctic Canada and greenland, Denmark had an entire program dedicated to it. I didn't expect it to be covered in a short video like this but it's still important for people to know. I am disabled and of indigenous descent, if I had lived during that time period I would've definitely been forcefully sterilized for one "reason" or another. Let's just call it by its real name, eugenics.
The depth of this problem is underlined by the fact that at age 71, this is the first I've ever heard of it. And I was born, raised, and lived my entire life in the American West. But then, I'm not a Native American. How criminally we blind ourselves and each other to those we ghettoize as "other."
This is heartbreaking. We've been failing the indigenous people for hundreds of years. I just found out that when my ancestors went through the potato famine the Choctaw people came and helped us.
yes in 1847 they raised money and sent it .The Choctaw of Skullyville donated $170 and the Choctaw of Doaksville donated $150. The Cherokee Nation also donated $200. That would be quite a bit going back . Its nice that people can look on things with reflection and look in a different way ,the irony now is most of the boys that died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn were Irish. History is never black and white , good or bad its a tapestry of so many differing hues.
When I first read about her story, it said that she became sick on the journey home. How did we find out she was poisoned? And why was she not buried at home?
I was thinking the same thing. Of all the videos and writings I've watched and read on Pocahontas, there's definitely new information splashed in here. Not to say it's at all false, but just something I've never come across. Of course, history = "his story," so common misinformation doesn't surprise me.
From what I know (I'm not an expert, just interested), she was "sick," which could have meant a European illness or being poisoned. It was an awfully convenient time for her to die for John Rolfe though... She was buried in England because she died closer to England than Virginia
Great video, although I would cautiously point out that Pocahontas is far from the first case example of the MMIP crisis. In the Anglophonic colonial sphere this was the case, but French, Dutch, Spanish & Portuguese colonizers were already doing this long before the English arrived, and in modern parts of New England where French Trappers & Portuguese fishermen were before the English arrived they had already done so multiple times. You could even extrapolate this further to include Inuit & Algonquin captives of the Vikings. Iceland has people descended from captives of those communities despite their disturbing pontification of 'racial purity' (they also have Irish & Scottish heritage as well from both raid captives & Irish Papar monks that populated the island before Scandinavians arrived). This doesn't absolve the English by any means especially when you consider how the English were far more likely to have mixed-race Indigenous persons killed than even the Dutch, who shared similar anti-interracial attitudes & inclinations for eradicating indigenous populations, and popularized the trend of scalping by posting bounties on rival indigenous leader's scalps to foster hostility between different indigenous groups & exploit the conflict to both seize more land & profit by selling different groups supplies. But it is important to avoid narrowing the scope of how common this trend was & how long it has been going on. It would be better to put emphasis on how Anglophonic nations, while not he first nations to engage in this protracted act of genocide, they (referring Canada, the US, England as it ruled over both of them, Australia & New Zealand as well because they have similar problems with their indigenous Austro-Melanesian & Polynesian populations) have managed to turn it into a horrifying system that is arguably unique in its insidiousness & lethality.
And even regarding figures well-known to Anglophones, the absolute terrors that Columbus brought upon Indigenous women and girls predate the Pocahontas narrative by about a century.
Greetings. Librarian here, worked decades in historical bibliography. I'd wish to point out that the Spanish had not a genocidal policy towards indigenous peoples. Yes, the Spanish conquests were anything but peaceful, but they were wars. The Spanish counted on the local population as a work force, it wasn't in their own interest to annihilate and substitute them to become labourers themselves. There were royal laws related to the treatment of natives, and the missionaries defended them from the worst tendencies of the conquistadors. The proof of all this is in the many interracial marriages happening since the beginnings of the conquest, and the current ethnic makeup of American countries. Where the English, Dutch, and even French and Portuguese established, the peoples are mostly descendants from Europeans or slaves with little mixing with or presence of natives; in the former Spanish colonies, the natives are strongly present in the ethnic mix and culture. Mexican cuisine is native, not Spanish.
@@MariaMartinez-researcher what a coincidence, I am also a librarian with years of historical bibliographic experience. Which is why I'm surprised as a historiographer, as to why you forgot to differentiate on-paper policy with effective practice, especially during the early Spanish conquest. The Spanish definitively genocides multiple indigenous ethnic groups in the Carribean, including the eponymous Caribs, Arowak peoples, Taino peoples, as well as mainland Carribean peoples such as the Seminole and Western Tepuis. Again, the Spanish were leagues ahead of other colonizers, but there well-recorded (out right bragged about in some cases) attempts to commit full scale genocide against several groups. In addition, if we include the revolutionary governments of former colonies, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Chile all are examples of Spanish language colonizer governments that committed acts of genocide as a matter of state policy. On top of that, just because the monarchy instituted legal protections, did not mean that the colonial governments didn't sometimes institute their own counterlegal policies. There was a well recorded trend of indigenous communities petitioning monasteries to send representatives to the Spanish crown when colonial governments began genocidal activities to get the local leadership replaced. The fact that they had to do so in the first place is clear evidence that genocidal sentiments were still present and acted upon in colonial societies, even if not to the degree of their non-Spanish language counterparts. To say otherwise is to buy into centuries of propaganda in a way that is antithetical to lessons we learned as historiographers, especially with the plethora of first person accounts of Spanish colonists perpetrating genocide from not only the victims and observers, but the perpetrators themselves.
I'm not a "princess" movie watcher, but always imagined that the Disney movie was a gross whitewashed tale because the school-taught version is the same way. She was girl who was essentially enslaved as a "novelty" and "curiosity" who lost her life too young and far from her family. It was and is sickening and shameful. Sincerely- thank you for this video.
~1:36 Pocahontas belonged to the Powhatan people, a collection of over 30 tribes including the Pamunkey, but we do not know for sure that she belonged to the Pamunkey; the Pamunkey people today claim both her and her father, but other evidence suggests that her father belonged to a different tribe called the Powhatan (his regnal name of Powhatan was taken from his tribe of origin, and the "Powhatan chiefdom" was named after him, just to make everything confusing). We don't know what tribe Pocahontas' mother belonged to, so she might have been Pamunkey, but we shouldn't take that for granted; it's better to say that she was a member of the Powhatan people and leave the specific tribe out of it. ~2:06 Smith was not the one responsible for Pocahontas' captivity, he had returned to England several years before she was kidnapped after being injured in an accidental powder explosion, and didn't see Pocahontas again until she was taken to England.
Where she was struck dumb at the sight of him. She had been told that he was dead. For her, it was like meeting a ghost. The funny thing was, that as a commoner, John Smith didn't have the status to pursue Pocahontas. She was a recognized by the English as a princess. John Rolfe was gentry. He had a higher social standing than did John Smith. It still doesn't mean that Pocahontas had the agency to leave the English settlement or to refuse to marry John Rolfe. Also, if John Smith didn't just make up the whole story about Pocahontas intervening to keep him from being killed at her father's command, which is a distinct possibility, then it was a ritual act by the tribe. Children weren't allowed to just run in and overrule a chief's decision. When the adult John Smith met her in Virginia, she was a kid. He was injured and left for England when she was about 13. She met him again about seven or eight years later in England and was gobsmacked at the sight of him. When she finally could speak again, she addressed him as a "father," so she sort of thought of him as someone of her father's generation, not as a peer or as a love-interest.
The Powhatan are also matrilineal so it could be that her mother was a Pamunkey and her status as member was passed to her. Also she was a nine year old when she allegedly saved Smith (this was in his third set of journals) and due to her age she wouldn’t have been anywhere near that event. Even if she was the chief’s daughter, there’s no reason for her to be there. Smith was a pudgy and nasty old fart who made up some fucked up lies about a literal child and yet that has stayed in her story.
I was aware of the movie when it came out but never actually saw it. I knew pretty early on that it was outrageously inaccurate but then I learned a lot more about the true history when I went to grad school at William & Mary and lived in Williamsburg, visited the museums in places like Jamestown, etc. I don't recall the poisoning thing though. I thought she got pneumonia or dysentery. Her life story is tragic in any case, as is much of the history since then and up to this day, but I do hope that there is positive change taking place. And while as a white guy of strictly European heritage I have no ties to native culture, I do sincerely hope we can preserve the knowledge of native languages and traditions that hasn't yet been lost. As a young kid I lived in Farmington, NM for a couple of years and was very much aware of Navajo people and language, as well as the ancient Anasazi/Pueblo sites. But out east most Algonquian and Iroquoian languages are pretty much extinct. I do think that's a shame.
I love that you showed how to reach out to someone for authentic information. Seriously such a helpful thing that goes under appreciated and holds back a lot of people from good dialogue.
This was presented very well. It was brief, yet very deep and went straight to the point of the real truth. Thank you. I will never look at Pocahontas the same way again.
"The New World" did a better job at portraying the facts, albeit it's no documentary. It's a 2+ hr movie and I think it's worth watching at least once.
Growing up Pocahontas was my favorite Disney princess. It was devastating to learn a few short years later her true story when I chose her to research for a school report.
An excellent little piece about this overwhelming yet overwhelmingly underreported ongoing tragedy facing Native American women every single day. I am part NA, but didn't inherit the skin tones that would put me in danger. It makes people disbelieve my heritage, but keeps me safe, so... it's a complicated feeling. Thank you so much, from the bottom of my mutt heart, for this piece. It's SO important this message get heard! ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ Please, take time to tell your loved ones you love them EVERY chance you get. Tomorrow is not a given; you're never promised the next sunrise. ~ ~ ~ ~ "And don't let it break your heart. I know it feels hopeless sometimes. But they're never really gone as long as there's a memory in your mind." _Hold On To Memories_ Dave Draiman, Disturbed 💔💔 MWB Jan 1984 - Aug 2023 RIP ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ • ~ 💙💙 #ResearchProject2025 #Register #BlueWaveNeeded #StopProject2025 #JobsJobsJobs #BidenomicsWins #ItsTheEconomyStupid #LoonyMAGAMike #MAGACrazy #Project2025 #LookItUp #EndGOPGQP #BidenomicsWins #Bidenomics #UnionStrong #BlueEverySeat #BlueEveryVote #BigBlueWave #BlueTsunami #ForwardNotBack #NoFascism #ForwardNotFascist #EveryElection #EveryVoteEveryYear #DontBooVote 💙💙
Definitely understand. I am too, but I can look at my family members and see the traits in them. The sad truth is that violence, especially rape is still socially acceptable in our society. And, that 1/3 of all women will have experienced sexual assault in their life. I'm not diminishing the plight of indigenous women, but this attitude has been an overarching one since the beginning, the paternalistic white male who is the boss of everything.... It boggles my mind that we have women in this century buying into that dangerous mess. We need to come together, women of all colors and creeds to stand up for our rights in this country. Anyone who's against our freedom, health, education, and equality, needs to be out of office. If they've done something harmful they should be prosecuted, I'm looking at you Matt Gaetz. We need to unite to protect ourselves, our sisters, our children, our communities, and our future. ❤️✊ BTW love your hashtags, so I'll add a few more.... #WomenLifeFreedom #LandBack #Democracy2024 #1MillionChildren💔🇵🇸 #CeasefireNow🫂🕊️ Ps. You might like the communities of Beau of the Fifth Column, The Humanist Report, Rational National, or Leftist Mafia, which includes the last two.✌️😎🍀
Dang! It blows my mind that with the popularity of true crime we haven’t seen anything about MMIW. Maybe that’s for the best when it comes to certain programs but it also seems like an untapped way to spread awareness.
I remember before Disney's Pocahontas I had to do a second grade school presentation of Pocahontas and knew her age was 10 (it was the only thing I remembered about her) so the next year seeing Disney's Pocahontas I was deeply confused as to why she's a grown woman with a man my parent's age
"Adam Ruins Everything" taught me that the popular Pocahontas story was mostly a narrative invented by John Smith to brag of his exploits.(She was, like, only 12 at the time and not likely to have ever interacted with him.)😑
It's baffling there is a segregated legal immunity. A simple fix could curtail the numbers, a crime that happen on any given jurisdiction is prosecutable by that jurisdiction. The current system is like saying New Yorkers can't be prosecuted for any crime outside of NYC, how does that make sense.
I have been way too deep down the human trafficking rabbit hole because of very personal reasons. I thought I knew almost everything, but today I stand corrected. I knew Native American populations were statistically high in domestic violence, but unfortunately knew nothing about the high probability of r*pe by non-natives and m*rder. It is utterly despicable. Thank you for bringing me new awareness on this day.
The legal loophole is so disheartening and frustrating. Holding the abusers accountable doesn't have a specific judicial department to start the case when a non- indigenous person comes onto reservation land as the US and Canadian governments aren't motivated to even make an effort. It's so messed up!
My wife and I (both white) had never heard about the MMIW or MMIP movement. It is god damn criminal that this is not better known amongst none indigenous people. I knew about the movement in Canada, but not here in the USA.
@@tanakaren1822 You're not aware of the American Holocaust involving at least tens of millions of people... What about the numerous instances of children's burials which are still being uncovered in regions where there were so called "residential schools" funded by the U.S. Government to "kill the Indian & save the man"? The involuntary sterilization of indigenous people has probably not made your radar then either, nor the deplorable "medical practices" engaged in to exploit an expendable population across plenty of tribal nations for generations... Any guess as to which tribal nation was used as test subjects for the COVID vaccine when it was first rolled out?
When did Pocahontas cartoon came out and I saw it I found it extremely insulting matter of fact I think I've only watched it once in my entire life. The story of Pocahontas is atrocious but also the fact that native indigenous people are always portrayed in a very bad stereotypical light. Native Americans are always betrayed by white actors or non-native actors like Lou Diamond Phillips who portrayed Native Americans in a few films who is actually Filipino and white. It's never shown how Native Americans like my grandfather who served in World War II were extremely important of History American history.
My Mom always tells me I'm not allowed to watch pocohantas because just this reason in the video...she also tells me; "she wasn't 19. she was barely 12. he wasn't 24. he was 42."
How can an outsider support the fight against this horror towards women? I don't have any biological connections to Indigenous People, but this tragedy should be felt by all people.
This is beautifully done. 🥰. I've never watched #Disney 's #Pocahontas. I learned in 1971 when I was 4 years old about Pocahontas. It was the #white version of an #historical account and it led me on a journey. By the time I was 7 I knew the truth about massacres and how this had happened to many #Indigenous peoples. By the time Disney's version came out I had no desire to see misrepresentation. It was not until I was 51 that I learned I am both #colonizer and #colonized in one body. On my father's side, I am #English and #Mohegan. The power of #DNA. #Ancestors want us to know them. And they want the truth of their stories to be seen. Nuwacônumumun yoht wáci napukak~~We keep a fire for the dead; It helps them on their journey~~Anunkush wupômsháwôkuwuk. Thank you 💓💓💓
Can we also address the harm caused by Pretendians who take away benefits owed to true Native Americans? I just watched the CBC documentary on Buffy Sainte-Marie.
I am a multiple generation descendant of the Fort Parker Massacre in 1836. Cynthia Ann Parker, taken by the Comanches as a little girl, was raised by the chief and wed to his son Peta Nocona. They had 3 kids including Quanah Parker. He grew up to become the last free chief. He had 18 kids. I know mother's mother's father was a descendant of that line.
I was not aware of the MMIP crisis. No doubt, this was not displayed anywhere at Disney, or even located in their archives. Beyond Disney's choice of ignorance, I wish this was more well known world wide. School curriculums would be a great place for this topic as well. Thank you for your knowledge sir!
I'm from Virginia. I met one of her descendants when I was in elementary school, before the movie came out. She told us all about her culture, how Pocahontas was a peacemaker, a hero, and there's a movie coming out about her. I was excited to see it. The angriest 8-year-old exited that theater. I was livid about how wrong they got it. As a screenwriter, we have a responsibility to tell a true story in an accurate and non-harmful way. I recognized the harm when I was a child. I met her great-great-grandaughter. There was no fooling me. An accurate portrayal wouldn't be a kids story.
I’m not indigenous, but I grew up in MT and ND and my mom was a county deputy sheriff and juvenile counselor for the BIA. From growing up in this environment I venture a big part of the problem with missing tribal women is a layered cultural indifference (especially in law enforcement and DA offices) with “problems” among what is seen by them as a problematic group. I have no doubt that there is a reluctance to get involved in a tribal matter and a suspicion of tribal people doing or not doing "things". Thus, an excuse for a lackluster investigation. I'm truly sorry this is happening.
Thank you so much for posting this video! I homeschool my children and we’re studying colonial America. It’s been really difficult to find narratives and resources to show my children ALL sides of the story. We’re very fortunate to live a reasonable distance from the Mohegan and Wampanoag nations who have incredible museums, but I’ve had little luck in my search for books and other resources. The activity book we’ve been using uses the legend written by John Smith and calls Pocahontas his ‘appointed protector!’ I’m all for highlighting the good that people have done in history despite their poor choices, but this made my blood curdle. I ordered an activity book by scholastic, a company I’ve always considered a valuable resource, but they breezed over the Native American narrative (only two sentences with a website link). In 2024, it shouldn’t be so hard to find information worth passing along to the next generation.
check out “a people’s history of the united states” by howard zinn- i’m pretty sure they make a children’s version. i had a teen version when i was in high school and it really opened my eyes to reality. i had to unlearn a lot of what i had been taught in public school.
What's even more sad is you can't trust PBS. Native Americans are even greatly divided amongst themselves. And don't really communicate. There are two sides of Pocahontas family members as it today generations. The White's have their version of the story. Keep in mind everything even then was base on a political move. Just think on record Pocahontas was the first ambassador to Europe. She was the first inter-race marriage on record. Just think the people of Jamestown/e couldn't survived if not for Powhatan and his daughter given food. So she was also the first Red Cross. There are no receipts to prove that Pocahontas was poisoned. All was go to the source instead of people who think they know the answer. Don't always believe what you read on the Internet. This video is purely propaganda wokeness. Canada looking to separate themselves from England and oddly enough the black African culture claims the samething that their women has the highest mmbw. When in all honesty the violence comes from within the own community.
I wish pocahontas family could sue Disney for their lies. Or even better the great spirit could bring justice to her family and all native families for the injustice done to them. I am not native but supposed to have Cherokee heritage through my Blackburn side. Not proven though. Either way I feel connected and my heart always will be
I remember how disturbed I was at the Disney portrayal of Pocahontas. My sons were small children, I thought I was related to the Morongo tribe of Banning, California, but have learned my uncles and aunts were wrong, we are related by marriage only, I am pure Euro mutt, though I look more Native American than many who have actual Native bloodlines, people always think I am Indigenous. My understanding is that John Rolfe “married” Pocahontas and took her to England, where she was given the Aglicised name Rebecca, she became ill, not hatching the immune system to withstand European diseases and died, less then a year after being taken to England. I am very aware of the Missing Indigenous Women Issue, and it sickens me. One of my best friends growing up, was & is full Navaho, my whole family are close to the Yazzies family, my mom and their mom were good friends and pen pals. My friend went back to the Reservation with her older sister, also my friend & as a Registered Nurse, she worked at the clinic near 4 Corners, in Chinless, Arizona, she married the Pharmacist & my husband and I attended her wedding. She went on to get her Doctrate and became the Head of Native Women’s Health for all of the Southwest.
The Pocahontas movie really is a polarizing film. On the one hand, Native peoples protested it - rightly - because of the gross romanticism, whitewashing, and erasure of a tragedy that befell a young girl, at the hands of a colonialist who was cleaned up into the polite, caring gentleman that he absolutely never was, which is a disgusting revision of history. On the other hand, evangelicals, conservatives, and reactionaries hate it because the film gives a basic rundown of animism - the belief that there is life in everything; that we are all interconnected with nature; that we ought to, therefore, act, individually and collectively, in sync with nature, and for everything we take, give back in equal measure - and paints animism in a good light. These Christian conservatives couldn't stand that, and demonize the film for promoting a "pagan, devil-worshiping agenda". It's a bad film because the Indigenous critics are correct, not because of the conservative critics, who ultimately oppose it because it isn't colonialist enough for them. Anyway, she deserved better, and we need to do right by Indigenous people today, but we can't do that if we keep pushing them to the sidelines, impoverishing them, victimizing them, ignoring them, and treating them as either noble savages or brutal savages, when they're just people, the original peoples of these lands, who need respect, and the land given back.
You're wrong, she had a racoon friend, was older, and John Smith and she were an item! It's not like revisionist history or anything, they'd never lie to us! Well, at least they have a good portrayal of an African American princess that spends the majority of the film as a frog, while the other princesses get to be themselves and do cool things. Non problematic.
We have huge ships in our port of Thunder Bay, Ontario. And it's long been said that the guys on these boats take these native women with promise of more drinks and drugs and are never seen again. (easy targets when you're still young and like to party) to think they sit there on the horizon and what horrors could lie just right there in our port. A lot of young natives come here for highschool and never make it back home to their communites. They think cops are behind the ppl who wash up on shore. It's a whole thing here in my town. theres been a crave documentary and a inside edition made about, Thunder Bay. Scary
Although I am mostly white and I admit I know very little about the real life experience of this, I know my ancestor was one of these women and it horrifies me that her story is so manipulated still. I'm sorry, grandma Maraboots.
I’m native and growing up I was not allowed to watch this and as I got older and my grandmother explained to me the lies and betrayal behind the movie that hid the realistic abuse, kidnapping and all around murder of her. The way they twisted this movie is beyond wrong.
Watching this quite literally made memories come up of being taught about a john rolfe in school. And no, of course, no textbook or teacher in central Virginia told us that my good sis Amonute was kidnapped and basically sex trafficked. Unfortunately, centuries later, VA the location is running like a port place or a stopping place for for a like of SA/ST cases in their travels. Aaand no acknowledgment of native peoples at all. I barely know the actual tribes of these lands im on. We were never taught. ANd I ignorantly neve looked. But I learned today what tribe she was from today. It's bullshit, but I'm happy I'm here. Also bullshit,? her body being stuck in a museum. Long story short, thank you for educating me. #MMIW
it never hurts to look at your history with an un-propagandized eye... okay. it might hurt for a while but you will come away from that experience, a better human. always.
I'm glad they're treating these crimes, and the trend of indifference behind them, with the gravity it deserves. I really hate to be this guy, and the way they're trying to us Pocahontas/Matoaka/Rebecca's story todraw attention to modern native femicide is admirable, but the version of her life here is barely more accurate than the Disney version. As one of many daughters of Powhatan king Powhatan (he took the name of his tribe when he became ruler) she was captured by the Jamestown settlers during the First Anglo-Powhatan War, with the help of one of Powhatan's rival lords. She was a young girl captured as a political hostage, and I can't imagine how traumatic that would be, but there is no evidence she was raped or mistreated (beyond, again, being a kidnapped child). She was given over to the household of Rev. Alex Whitaker, who taught her the basics of Christianity and English culture, and, significantly, kept John Smith away from her- he was known, even then, as the kind of man pretty young girls were not safe around, and he was even subject to an investigation by the Virginia Company because of sexual jokes and comments he made about her. (His excuse, of course, was that it was all just a joke.) During her years with Whitaker, she met and agreed to marry John Rolfe, a widowed English farmer and bussinesman. Political marriages were common on both sides of the Atlantic, and both cultures instinctively understood the idea of bringing peace by uniting two warring nations in one couple. She married Rolfe, the war rolled over into an uneasy peace, and life went back to as close to normal as it would ever be again for the Powhatans. Eventually, John Rolfe, the now-renamed Rebecca Rolfe/Pocahontas, and their infant son travel to England as part of a PR campaign for the Jamestown expedition. Her father sent along several of his priests and nobles to act as emissaries to the English crown, as well as explorers and fact-finders. During her time in Britain, which included a formal audience with King James, Pocahontas fell sick and died. This is maybe the least surprising part of the story- half of her people, or more, had died in the last century from diseases carried by European livestock and crops, to which they had no natural resistance. But among Powhatan's ambassadors, a conspiracy began that she had been poisoned. This was the Powhatan version of "Bush did 9/11"; neither the monarchy nor the people running Jamestown had any good reason to do this, and many reasons not to. In fact, after the death of Pocahontas and, soon after, her father, peace once again broke down between the nations, culminating with the new king Opechankeno's plan to remove the unwanted foreigners in what became known as the Jamestown Massacre. On the orders of the new king, men acting as merchants infiltrated Jamestown and then began to cut down families in their homes. This led to the Second Anglo-Powhatan War, the destruction of the Powhatan confederacy, and the eventual confinement of Virginia natives to small, poor reservations. I encourage everyone, if you cared enough to read this far, to read Camilla Townsend's book "Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dillema". She's one of the best native history scholars alive, and she tells these stories with the kind of subtlety, grandeur and tragedy they deserve. Again, good on PBS for drawing attention to the frequent brutalization of native women, and the law's apparent indifference. But I think Malinche/Malintzin or Sacagawea would have made a better connection as native survivors of sexual abuse and brutality.
She was just a child of ten years or so when she encountered John Smith and was dead by twenty.
Truly disgusting what the European colonisers did to her and her people.
That's so sad!😪
Don't put the blame on entire group, put it on John Smith and the individuals involved.
Ummm
@@cxa011500
They're all together responsible for that outcome..
That's a sad but true story of the reality that they are in different ways, responsible for....
GENOCIDE that is factually not over.
Not by any means.
Looking at the rate of the murder and disappearances of native women and
The disregard for their people..
Also the MANY pipeline cases that are imposed on their landscape that are threatening the water and the sanctity of the last few acres of sanctuary ALLOWED to them after the countless amounts of retracted contracts with the literal federal government, to name the most obvious elements of the Genocidal practices they endure
@@cxa011500are you stupid?
@@cxa011500 Those two men didn't operate in a vacuum. The entire system was set up to support and protect many man like Smith and Rolfe for hundreds of years. So, it wasn't just those two guys and their immediate friends, it was everyone who didn't stop them.
I tell you what, wanting to know more about the real Pocahontas after watching the Disney movie was one hell of a betrayal. Pretty sure that’s the beginning of how constantly frustrated I am at how distorted history is to hide the horrible things the US and other countries have done across the centuries. Thanks for radicalizing me, Disney!
Disney animation shows aren't documentaries, they are meant to be entertainment with the understanding that children are watching. This is not to say that this makes it Disney's depiction okay, because things were obviously worse than the Disney animation show and leaves children growing up with a false tale, a tale that is akin to the false tale of Washington chopping a cherry tree and saying "I cannot tell a lie." But also, don't expect a 100% true to life story if entertainment is the primary goal.
@@markadams7046 I mean. I was like 6 when the movie came out, so it’s not like I had that understanding yet. If anything, it makes how badly Disney warped the history worse imo.
But don’t worry, my history classes were also hard at work sanitizing history and I wouldn’t be unpacking that until goddamn college. 8)
@@markadams7046 Most people are children when they first watch Disney movies, and I hate to break it to you but children aren't exactly known for their understanding of detailed history, context, nuance, or even mythology, which is what this kind of steep sterilization works out to being. And it's not like much US history is taught with much more nuance or historical reality than Disney cartoons, until college if you're lucky or certain AP classes if you're even luckier.
When I say with children in mind, I mean they are not going to depict extremely violent and horrific events that happened in real life. It would just be too much for the young minds to grasp without some degree of trauma, so they obviously can't portray those truths.@@RevShifty
@@markadams7046 They can definitely at least acknowledge them in some fashion. Absolutely no one is saying it needs graphic depiction. But cannibalizing and then sanitizing a genuinely terrible story just to release it on the anniversary to help sell the fantasy and gain all the extra clout isn't doing anyone but Disney any good.
And people don't get to be surprised when those same children grow up, learn a bit of the actual story, and then have a problem with what Disney did. There were plenty of people blasting them for it at the time. I was barely a teenager myself and had already stopped watching Disney anything years before then, but I still remember comedians and the like mortified by what Disney did with that movie.
I was already a young adult when Pocahontas came out, and I remember native peoples across the country speaking up about this very thing. Even white people were like "WTF is this, Disney."
Exactly. I remember the movie being released and my friends and I were like, "Nope." That John Smith narrative was always BS.
Wow, even white people? Murderous, heartless, inhumane, animalistic white people?
I was also one of those white people, lol. I tried watching it for the first time years after the original release during a Disney marathon with the family, so we could say we finally caught up and watched all the animated films. I could only barely make it past the opening credits before i had to tap out from how whitewashed it felt. Still have never seen it, and don't have any plan to.
Really? Even white people? I had no idea it was that disliked. I first watched it as a child and was only exposed to it being liked. Thats interesting. Honestly, I look back and feel revolted and appalled it was even made.
Walt Disney was a Natzi sympathizer. What did you expect?
I just find it viscerally disgusting that Disney includes their version of Pocahontas in the Princess brand to this day. It’s the most racist movie they’ve made in the last 40 years at least. With their other movies like this, they try to downplay it: no Peter Pan merchandise includes Tiger Lily, and you’ll never see the slave centaur from Fantasia anytime soon. But since they’re so short on positive role models for Native American girls, this real life victim of horrific violence is slapped on backpacks and soup cans for little girls to consume.
Not only that, she wasn't a princess in any way. Most Native American nations did not have royalty. I think the closest to royalty would be such civilizations as the Maya, Aztec, Inka, etc., but not in the European understanding.
It's a perpetuation of the legend that John Smith himself started, and there's at least one good reason for doubting the whole 'saved by Pocahontas' claim: medieval stories were full of the daughters of non-Christian sultans and kings falling for the knightly Christian protagonists. (The other is that Smith liked to stretch the truth and even lie.) And we desperately want the whole thing to be a romantic story rather than one of kidnapping, rape, and abuse.
They have started putting Tiger Lilly on merchandise. They have no shame. 🤢
Good point. Disney merchandise also doesn't include the crows from Dumbo, the cats from Lady and the Tramp, and the orangutan from Jungle Book. That would be so uncomfortable, and that is putting it mildly.
I'd have to agree. As a child I loved pocahontas. I still known the songs in the movie almost 35 yrs later. I also got curious about the real pocahontas and did my research. I was a mega nerd in elementary and middle school lol. I was appalled by what I found. Was probably 8 or 9 at the time. Really changed how I saw things at a very pivotal moment in my young life.
The sad thing is that that movie had the most effort done to distinguish each tribe as different with actual native dialect. If they had just done a separate story that wasn’t tied to Pocahontas, done with a completely made up native girl and trying to keep peace in a racist world, it would have been fine. But the distortion of Pocahontas’ story based off of a myth that was twisted itself from the horrible truth to make the colonists look like victims is what makes it hard to sit through
On one level, w/ Pocahontas, Disney did what they ALWAYS do: they appropriate a story and repackage it for mass marketing. They were simply less subtle than usual. But, thanks to their manipulation of copyright terms, they will continue to profit off their Disneyfied Pocahontas for the foreseeable future.
Recognizing her as the first documented instance of MMIW is long overdue.
It seems like there's something that could be done legally, but then I'm not an attorney......
This is one of those stories that makes me wish for a different UA-cam button, one that give the creators credit for their good work, but doesn’t necessitate tapping a thumbs up button for such a horrific, ongoing tragedy. Thank you for helping to re-educate those of us who were underserved by the prevailing educational system.
There's a sub button and a way to even pay them lol
I am a descendant of Pocahontas and I appreciate the acknowledgment of her story to highlight an important and very necessary movement. Thank you!
So youre a descendant of James Rowdy her only son???
She had son who survived and he had descendants.
@@teovu5557Firstly, James was her husband. Thomas was her son.
Secondly, he wasn't her only child. Or only son, for that matter.
Before being taken by the British, she had children with her first husband
@@maapauu4282 Why you lying? No sources says a "james' was her husband. And would love to see your source where it says she had prior children. lol
@@teovu5557 I'm not lying. I did make a mistake, however. Because both James and John begin with J, somehow I confused the two.
However, where did you get James Rowdy from? Look it up anywhere. Her son was Thomas Rolfe.
You might have gotten confused because Jane was the name of Thomas's daughter, but where did Rowdy come from?
According to the national park service, there is evidence indicating that Pochahontas and Kocoum had a child
Thank you for sharing this knowledge. I'm not a Native American woman, but I am very familiar with MMIP and they very seldom get any media attention. Regardless of racial/ethnic identity, we all need to change this for the better. They deserve justice, too. ✊🏾❤
It's appalling to me how many non-indigenous women willfully choose to only see their race's anti-female atrocities. When in actuality we could be offering a gigantic network of support and visibility.
It's not merely the responsibility of those who are victimized by this brand of bigotry and violence, but the responsibility of those who have strength in numbers to bring awareness and change to those who need support most.
I forget who said that until all are free none truly are.
I didn't even know about MMIP before watching this. I can't believe that something so horrific is happening in the western world in this day and age and barely anyone bats an eye. It's appalling how little attention is on this issue... people should be rioting to put an end to this and not ignore it.
Nice to see Tai’ hosting this series and I’m happy this exists.
Thank you for highlighting this important issue. The colonial justice system has failed the indigenous people of the world so many times.
It was not built for them... Native peoples weren't even considered. We have much to address, heal, honor, and change.
I second this. I didn't even know about MMIP and these issues until now and I'm so greatful I was told about them in this video. It's horrific that not only something like this happens in the western world in this day and age but also that barely anyone pays attention to it.
WTF! Non-natives can't be tried on Tribal lands! that is insane and scary....
Welcome to the indigenous world.
@michelecox5241 Horrible!!!
In the US or Canada? He's Canadian...but I get the feeling he's in the US.
Sadly it was when I was a kid and this cartoon came out that I was introduced to this wanting to read more as a little nerdy girl about it. What happened to her and how John Smith and John Rolfe did to her and exploited her for gain made me sickened at the western colonist.
Thank you so much for this. When Disney's Pocahontas came out, my kids were prime age to market to. I was not about to let their version of her story be my kids' default. I knew the truth and was so horrified that Disney was selling a child predator as a hero, and his young prey as a romantic heroine. Every time we turned down an opportunity to watch it was an opportunity to teach, tho.
Another thing they didn't touch on...
A high percentage of Native men and women were forced to be sterilized in the 50s-90s while being treated for non related procedures.
Especially in Arctic Canada and greenland, Denmark had an entire program dedicated to it. I didn't expect it to be covered in a short video like this but it's still important for people to know. I am disabled and of indigenous descent, if I had lived during that time period I would've definitely been forcefully sterilized for one "reason" or another. Let's just call it by its real name, eugenics.
That's horrific!
Same with other people of color in the US, especially in the south
That is disgusting..
What is wrong with people?
What are they Afraid of?!
@@Wendy-bm3fl i dunno ask your elected officials
The depth of this problem is underlined by the fact that at age 71, this is the first I've ever heard of it. And I was born, raised, and lived my entire life in the American West. But then, I'm not a Native American. How criminally we blind ourselves and each other to those we ghettoize as "other."
Thank you. Excellent job on covering this extremely important tragic situation. We must do better.
This is heartbreaking. We've been failing the indigenous people for hundreds of years. I just found out that when my ancestors went through the potato famine the Choctaw people came and helped us.
I found out out a couple years ago. Such an amazing story! 🇮🇪🇵🇸
@@erinmac4750 it really is. Further breaks my heart to know what we've done to them and continue to do
yes in 1847 they raised money and sent it .The Choctaw of Skullyville donated $170 and the Choctaw of Doaksville donated $150. The Cherokee Nation also donated $200. That would be quite a bit going back . Its nice that people can look on things with reflection and look in a different way ,the irony now is most of the boys that died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn were Irish. History is never black and white , good or bad its a tapestry of so many differing hues.
@@jayy2949 I was not aware of that. That warms my heart. Thank you 🙏
I read about that..
Some people have compassion & some people are sadly pathetic.
This saddened my heart 💔 I'm so sorry Indigenous females are experiencing this 😢
Crazy shit to I'm related to her 😅
This needs to stop!!
When I first read about her story, it said that she became sick on the journey home. How did we find out she was poisoned? And why was she not buried at home?
I was thinking the same thing. Of all the videos and writings I've watched and read on Pocahontas, there's definitely new information splashed in here. Not to say it's at all false, but just something I've never come across. Of course, history = "his story," so common misinformation doesn't surprise me.
I thought she was sick on the journey home too, small pox.
From what I know (I'm not an expert, just interested), she was "sick," which could have meant a European illness or being poisoned. It was an awfully convenient time for her to die for John Rolfe though... She was buried in England because she died closer to England than Virginia
I had heard she died of illness, too.
Yeah I'm going to need some citation on that, I've never heard anyone say she was poisoned
Great video, although I would cautiously point out that Pocahontas is far from the first case example of the MMIP crisis.
In the Anglophonic colonial sphere this was the case, but French, Dutch, Spanish & Portuguese colonizers were already doing this long before the English arrived, and in modern parts of New England where French Trappers & Portuguese fishermen were before the English arrived they had already done so multiple times.
You could even extrapolate this further to include Inuit & Algonquin captives of the Vikings. Iceland has people descended from captives of those communities despite their disturbing pontification of 'racial purity' (they also have Irish & Scottish heritage as well from both raid captives & Irish Papar monks that populated the island before Scandinavians arrived).
This doesn't absolve the English by any means especially when you consider how the English were far more likely to have mixed-race Indigenous persons killed than even the Dutch, who shared similar anti-interracial attitudes & inclinations for eradicating indigenous populations, and popularized the trend of scalping by posting bounties on rival indigenous leader's scalps to foster hostility between different indigenous groups & exploit the conflict to both seize more land & profit by selling different groups supplies.
But it is important to avoid narrowing the scope of how common this trend was & how long it has been going on. It would be better to put emphasis on how Anglophonic nations, while not he first nations to engage in this protracted act of genocide, they (referring Canada, the US, England as it ruled over both of them, Australia & New Zealand as well because they have similar problems with their indigenous Austro-Melanesian & Polynesian populations) have managed to turn it into a horrifying system that is arguably unique in its insidiousness & lethality.
And even regarding figures well-known to Anglophones, the absolute terrors that Columbus brought upon Indigenous women and girls predate the Pocahontas narrative by about a century.
In shorter terms Pocahontas wasn’t fair skinned like the people want to believe. She was black.
Greetings. Librarian here, worked decades in historical bibliography. I'd wish to point out that the Spanish had not a genocidal policy towards indigenous peoples. Yes, the Spanish conquests were anything but peaceful, but they were wars. The Spanish counted on the local population as a work force, it wasn't in their own interest to annihilate and substitute them to become labourers themselves. There were royal laws related to the treatment of natives, and the missionaries defended them from the worst tendencies of the conquistadors. The proof of all this is in the many interracial marriages happening since the beginnings of the conquest, and the current ethnic makeup of American countries. Where the English, Dutch, and even French and Portuguese established, the peoples are mostly descendants from Europeans or slaves with little mixing with or presence of natives; in the former Spanish colonies, the natives are strongly present in the ethnic mix and culture. Mexican cuisine is native, not Spanish.
@@MariaMartinez-researcher what a coincidence, I am also a librarian with years of historical bibliographic experience. Which is why I'm surprised as a historiographer, as to why you forgot to differentiate on-paper policy with effective practice, especially during the early Spanish conquest. The Spanish definitively genocides multiple indigenous ethnic groups in the Carribean, including the eponymous Caribs, Arowak peoples, Taino peoples, as well as mainland Carribean peoples such as the Seminole and Western Tepuis. Again, the Spanish were leagues ahead of other colonizers, but there well-recorded (out right bragged about in some cases) attempts to commit full scale genocide against several groups. In addition, if we include the revolutionary governments of former colonies, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Chile all are examples of Spanish language colonizer governments that committed acts of genocide as a matter of state policy. On top of that, just because the monarchy instituted legal protections, did not mean that the colonial governments didn't sometimes institute their own counterlegal policies. There was a well recorded trend of indigenous communities petitioning monasteries to send representatives to the Spanish crown when colonial governments began genocidal activities to get the local leadership replaced. The fact that they had to do so in the first place is clear evidence that genocidal sentiments were still present and acted upon in colonial societies, even if not to the degree of their non-Spanish language counterparts. To say otherwise is to buy into centuries of propaganda in a way that is antithetical to lessons we learned as historiographers, especially with the plethora of first person accounts of Spanish colonists perpetrating genocide from not only the victims and observers, but the perpetrators themselves.
Great discussion! Very informative.
Thank you so much for taking the time to make this video! 🧡
It's extremely important especially during this day and age
Just realized this is PBS, happy you guys are still informing me even now
I'm not a "princess" movie watcher, but always imagined that the Disney movie was a gross whitewashed tale because the school-taught version is the same way. She was girl who was essentially enslaved as a "novelty" and "curiosity" who lost her life too young and far from her family. It was and is sickening and shameful. Sincerely- thank you for this video.
Thank you for raising awareness. These women need their voice amplified.
We need more stories like this shared.
I really related to the joke about mansplaining and contacting people smarter than me. Spot on!
Thank you for sharing this video and shining light on both the strength and legacy of Native peoples and specifically Native Women of America.
~1:36 Pocahontas belonged to the Powhatan people, a collection of over 30 tribes including the Pamunkey, but we do not know for sure that she belonged to the Pamunkey; the Pamunkey people today claim both her and her father, but other evidence suggests that her father belonged to a different tribe called the Powhatan (his regnal name of Powhatan was taken from his tribe of origin, and the "Powhatan chiefdom" was named after him, just to make everything confusing). We don't know what tribe Pocahontas' mother belonged to, so she might have been Pamunkey, but we shouldn't take that for granted; it's better to say that she was a member of the Powhatan people and leave the specific tribe out of it.
~2:06 Smith was not the one responsible for Pocahontas' captivity, he had returned to England several years before she was kidnapped after being injured in an accidental powder explosion, and didn't see Pocahontas again until she was taken to England.
Thanks for the additional information.
Where she was struck dumb at the sight of him. She had been told that he was dead. For her, it was like meeting a ghost. The funny thing was, that as a commoner, John Smith didn't have the status to pursue Pocahontas. She was a recognized by the English as a princess. John Rolfe was gentry. He had a higher social standing than did John Smith. It still doesn't mean that Pocahontas had the agency to leave the English settlement or to refuse to marry John Rolfe. Also, if John Smith didn't just make up the whole story about Pocahontas intervening to keep him from being killed at her father's command, which is a distinct possibility, then it was a ritual act by the tribe. Children weren't allowed to just run in and overrule a chief's decision. When the adult John Smith met her in Virginia, she was a kid. He was injured and left for England when she was about 13. She met him again about seven or eight years later in England and was gobsmacked at the sight of him. When she finally could speak again, she addressed him as a "father," so she sort of thought of him as someone of her father's generation, not as a peer or as a love-interest.
The Powhatan are also matrilineal so it could be that her mother was a Pamunkey and her status as member was passed to her. Also she was a nine year old when she allegedly saved Smith (this was in his third set of journals) and due to her age she wouldn’t have been anywhere near that event. Even if she was the chief’s daughter, there’s no reason for her to be there. Smith was a pudgy and nasty old fart who made up some fucked up lies about a literal child and yet that has stayed in her story.
There's also no proof she was poisoned.
I was aware of the movie when it came out but never actually saw it. I knew pretty early on that it was outrageously inaccurate but then I learned a lot more about the true history when I went to grad school at William & Mary and lived in Williamsburg, visited the museums in places like Jamestown, etc. I don't recall the poisoning thing though. I thought she got pneumonia or dysentery. Her life story is tragic in any case, as is much of the history since then and up to this day, but I do hope that there is positive change taking place. And while as a white guy of strictly European heritage I have no ties to native culture, I do sincerely hope we can preserve the knowledge of native languages and traditions that hasn't yet been lost. As a young kid I lived in Farmington, NM for a couple of years and was very much aware of Navajo people and language, as well as the ancient Anasazi/Pueblo sites. But out east most Algonquian and Iroquoian languages are pretty much extinct. I do think that's a shame.
I wasn't taught about this in school for SOME reason but at least I know algebra, a thing I've never used.
Yeah..the true story of Pocahontas is much darker than I realized.
Preach to ma people! I had no idea she was raped and murdered… we need to be the center of the American discussion
There's no proof she was murdered or not. It is one of many theories. There was no way to prove poisoning back then.
My research says she wasn't raped and died of smallpox in England.
I love that you showed how to reach out to someone for authentic information. Seriously such a helpful thing that goes under appreciated and holds back a lot of people from good dialogue.
Imperialism is a hell of a drug.
This was presented very well. It was brief, yet very deep and went straight to the point of the real truth. Thank you. I will never look at Pocahontas the same way again.
their just as guilty of spreading fake News or stories.
I feel like there needs to be a realistic story of Pocahontas 🙏🏽
"The New World" did a better job at portraying the facts, albeit it's no documentary. It's a 2+ hr movie and I think it's worth watching at least once.
Growing up Pocahontas was my favorite Disney princess. It was devastating to learn a few short years later her true story when I chose her to research for a school report.
Im here from 2c and I'm grateful for PBS for making this available!
An excellent little piece about this overwhelming yet overwhelmingly underreported ongoing tragedy facing Native American women every single day. I am part NA, but didn't inherit the skin tones that would put me in danger. It makes people disbelieve my heritage, but keeps me safe, so... it's a complicated feeling. Thank you so much, from the bottom of my mutt heart, for this piece. It's SO important this message get heard!
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Please, take time to tell your loved ones you love them EVERY chance you get. Tomorrow is not a given; you're never promised the next sunrise.
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"And don't let it break your heart. I know it feels hopeless sometimes. But they're never really gone as long as there's a memory in your mind." _Hold On To Memories_ Dave Draiman, Disturbed
💔💔
MWB
Jan 1984 - Aug 2023
RIP
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#ResearchProject2025 #Register #BlueWaveNeeded #StopProject2025
#JobsJobsJobs #BidenomicsWins #ItsTheEconomyStupid #LoonyMAGAMike #MAGACrazy #Project2025 #LookItUp #EndGOPGQP #BidenomicsWins #Bidenomics #UnionStrong #BlueEverySeat #BlueEveryVote #BigBlueWave #BlueTsunami #ForwardNotBack #NoFascism #ForwardNotFascist #EveryElection
#EveryVoteEveryYear #DontBooVote
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Definitely understand. I am too, but I can look at my family members and see the traits in them.
The sad truth is that violence, especially rape is still socially acceptable in our society. And, that 1/3 of all women will have experienced sexual assault in their life. I'm not diminishing the plight of indigenous women, but this attitude has been an overarching one since the beginning, the paternalistic white male who is the boss of everything.... It boggles my mind that we have women in this century buying into that dangerous mess. We need to come together, women of all colors and creeds to stand up for our rights in this country. Anyone who's against our freedom, health, education, and equality, needs to be out of office. If they've done something harmful they should be prosecuted, I'm looking at you Matt Gaetz. We need to unite to protect ourselves, our sisters, our children, our communities, and our future. ❤️✊
BTW love your hashtags, so I'll add a few more....
#WomenLifeFreedom #LandBack
#Democracy2024
#1MillionChildren💔🇵🇸 #CeasefireNow🫂🕊️
Ps. You might like the communities of Beau of the Fifth Column, The Humanist Report, Rational National, or Leftist Mafia, which includes the last two.✌️😎🍀
Dang! It blows my mind that with the popularity of true crime we haven’t seen anything about MMIW. Maybe that’s for the best when it comes to certain programs but it also seems like an untapped way to spread awareness.
Ha like duh, I guess there’s Killers of the Flower Moon but that doesn’t exactly feel informative about the current crisis 😒
I remember before Disney's Pocahontas I had to do a second grade school presentation of Pocahontas and knew her age was 10 (it was the only thing I remembered about her) so the next year seeing Disney's Pocahontas I was deeply confused as to why she's a grown woman with a man my parent's age
"Adam Ruins Everything" taught me that the popular Pocahontas story was mostly a narrative invented by John Smith to brag of his exploits.(She was, like, only 12 at the time and not likely to have ever interacted with him.)😑
Hopefully she wasn't forced to interact with him. 12 means nothing to some adults.
It's baffling there is a segregated legal immunity. A simple fix could curtail the numbers, a crime that happen on any given jurisdiction is prosecutable by that jurisdiction. The current system is like saying New Yorkers can't be prosecuted for any crime outside of NYC, how does that make sense.
Yes, it is ridiculous that tribes can't prosecute crimes committed on their own land. It needs to be repealed ASAP.
I have been way too deep down the human trafficking rabbit hole because of very personal reasons. I thought I knew almost everything, but today I stand corrected. I knew Native American populations were statistically high in domestic violence, but unfortunately knew nothing about the high probability of r*pe by non-natives and m*rder. It is utterly despicable. Thank you for bringing me new awareness on this day.
The legal loophole is so disheartening and frustrating. Holding the abusers accountable doesn't have a specific judicial department to start the case when a non- indigenous person comes onto reservation land as the US and Canadian governments aren't motivated to even make an effort. It's so messed up!
Thank you for raising my awareness of this awful issue.
John Rolfe was in the Disney Pocahantas sequel, I believe.
He is there. And he takes Pocahontas across the pond to England.
My wife and I (both white) had never heard about the MMIW or MMIP movement. It is god damn criminal that this is not better known amongst none indigenous people. I knew about the movement in Canada, but not here in the USA.
A lot of it is caused by drunk native men so relax
Illuminating. There's so much about our history that we don't know. Thanks for sharing.
thank you
2.5%? That's really horrible. Especially when you know why exactly it's 2.5%.
???? Explain please
@@tanakaren1822 Only 2.5% of the population of the USA is Native American. Due to genocide.
@@tanakaren1822 the intentional genocide of Indigenous populations by North American colonizers.
@@tanakaren1822
You're not aware of the American Holocaust involving at least tens of millions of people...
What about the numerous instances of children's burials which are still being uncovered in regions where there were so called "residential schools" funded by the U.S. Government to "kill the Indian & save the man"?
The involuntary sterilization of indigenous people has probably not made your radar then either, nor the deplorable "medical practices" engaged in to exploit an expendable population across plenty of tribal nations for generations...
Any guess as to which tribal nation was used as test subjects for the COVID vaccine when it was first rolled out?
I was ten when the movie Pocahantas came out and i was super mad at disney for being completely innaccurate
Thank you for opening my eyes on what has happened and is still happening to Indigenous women. I will definitely be doing more research on this topic.
When did Pocahontas cartoon came out and I saw it I found it extremely insulting matter of fact I think I've only watched it once in my entire life. The story of Pocahontas is atrocious but also the fact that native indigenous people are always portrayed in a very bad stereotypical light.
Native Americans are always betrayed by white actors or non-native actors like Lou Diamond Phillips who portrayed Native Americans in a few films who is actually Filipino and white. It's never shown how Native Americans like my grandfather who served in World War II were extremely important of History American history.
Matoaka is my 14th Great Grandmother
Evidently Nicketti (sister of Mataoka) was my 11th great-grandmother…perhaps we are distant relatives❤️
My Mom always tells me I'm not allowed to watch pocohantas because just this reason in the video...she also tells me; "she wasn't 19. she was barely 12. he wasn't 24. he was 42."
Broken hearted for my sister's. Mine was a non-native too. Survive, l hold you deep in my heart
How can an outsider support the fight against this horror towards women? I don't have any biological connections to Indigenous People, but this tragedy should be felt by all people.
Yes, those numbers are horrible
0:06 not ready but ready
I would like to add that she and others shouldn’t be addressed as “woman” because men typically assault those that are known to be weak - children.
She definitely was to start that.
This is beautifully done. 🥰. I've never watched #Disney 's #Pocahontas. I learned in 1971 when I was 4 years old about Pocahontas. It was the #white version of an #historical account and it led me on a journey. By the time I was 7 I knew the truth about massacres and how this had happened to many #Indigenous peoples. By the time Disney's version came out I had no desire to see misrepresentation. It was not until I was 51 that I learned I am both #colonizer and #colonized in one body. On my father's side, I am #English and #Mohegan. The power of #DNA. #Ancestors want us to know them. And they want the truth of their stories to be seen. Nuwacônumumun yoht wáci napukak~~We keep a fire for the dead;
It helps them on their journey~~Anunkush wupômsháwôkuwuk. Thank you 💓💓💓
Can we also address the harm caused by Pretendians who take away benefits owed to true Native Americans? I just watched the CBC documentary on Buffy Sainte-Marie.
Thank you! They’re apart of the problem as well. Look up the image of Mongolians and see the truth.
This breaks my heart but also sheds such an IMPORTANT light on Pocahontas’s life and suffering ❤
Thank You for bringing this topic to light!!🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
I am a multiple generation descendant of the Fort Parker Massacre in 1836. Cynthia Ann Parker, taken by the Comanches as a little girl, was raised by the chief and wed to his son Peta Nocona. They had 3 kids including Quanah Parker. He grew up to become the last free chief. He had 18 kids. I know mother's mother's father was a descendant of that line.
I was not aware of the MMIP crisis. No doubt, this was not displayed anywhere at Disney, or even located in their archives. Beyond Disney's choice of ignorance, I wish this was more well known world wide. School curriculums would be a great place for this topic as well. Thank you for your knowledge sir!
things like this is why i supports the rights of all indigenous people
This sounds like a legal loophole for serial killers to get away with murdering
This is powerful public history, an authentic story about the past and how it matters in the present.
I'm from Virginia. I met one of her descendants when I was in elementary school, before the movie came out. She told us all about her culture, how Pocahontas was a peacemaker, a hero, and there's a movie coming out about her. I was excited to see it. The angriest 8-year-old exited that theater. I was livid about how wrong they got it. As a screenwriter, we have a responsibility to tell a true story in an accurate and non-harmful way. I recognized the harm when I was a child. I met her great-great-grandaughter. There was no fooling me. An accurate portrayal wouldn't be a kids story.
That little girl lied to you 😂
This new PBS content is really well made!
Hoping to see more features of cannabis culture in time ❤
I’m not indigenous, but I grew up in MT and ND and my mom was a county deputy sheriff and juvenile counselor for the BIA.
From growing up in this environment I venture a big part of the problem with missing tribal women is a layered cultural indifference (especially in law enforcement and DA offices) with “problems” among what is seen by them as a problematic group.
I have no doubt that there is a reluctance to get involved in a tribal matter and a suspicion of tribal people doing or not doing "things". Thus, an excuse for a lackluster investigation.
I'm truly sorry this is happening.
great video! we need more truthtellers like you
Omg... This is heartbreaking to learn about...
Thank you so much for posting this video! I homeschool my children and we’re studying colonial America. It’s been really difficult to find narratives and resources to show my children ALL sides of the story. We’re very fortunate to live a reasonable distance from the Mohegan and Wampanoag nations who have incredible museums, but I’ve had little luck in my search for books and other resources. The activity book we’ve been using uses the legend written by John Smith and calls Pocahontas his ‘appointed protector!’ I’m all for highlighting the good that people have done in history despite their poor choices, but this made my blood curdle. I ordered an activity book by scholastic, a company I’ve always considered a valuable resource, but they breezed over the Native American narrative (only two sentences with a website link). In 2024, it shouldn’t be so hard to find information worth passing along to the next generation.
check out “a people’s history of the united states” by howard zinn- i’m pretty sure they make a children’s version. i had a teen version when i was in high school and it really opened my eyes to reality. i had to unlearn a lot of what i had been taught in public school.
What's even more sad is you can't trust PBS. Native Americans are even greatly divided amongst themselves. And don't really communicate. There are two sides of Pocahontas family members as it today generations. The White's have their version of the story. Keep in mind everything even then was base on a political move. Just think on record Pocahontas was the first ambassador to Europe. She was the first inter-race marriage on record. Just think the people of Jamestown/e couldn't survived if not for Powhatan and his daughter given food. So she was also the first Red Cross. There are no receipts to prove that Pocahontas was poisoned. All was go to the source instead of people who think they know the answer. Don't always believe what you read on the Internet. This video is purely propaganda wokeness. Canada looking to separate themselves from England and oddly enough the black African culture claims the samething that their women has the highest mmbw. When in all honesty the violence comes from within the own community.
It would be interesting to hear about Sacagawea.
This has been going on my whole life and I just learned about it 2 years ago 😢
Thank you for talking about this. It is close to my heart and my genetics. ❤❤ Disney discusses me.
She is listed as 1 of my ancestors according to the family tree app I was using
3:00 damn i love this shot fired at lazy research
I wish pocahontas family could sue Disney for their lies. Or even better the great spirit could bring justice to her family and all native families for the injustice done to them. I am not native but supposed to have Cherokee heritage through my Blackburn side. Not proven though. Either way I feel connected and my heart always will be
I remember how disturbed I was at the Disney portrayal of Pocahontas. My sons were small children, I thought I was related to the Morongo tribe of Banning, California, but have learned my uncles and aunts were wrong, we are related by marriage only, I am pure Euro mutt, though I look more Native American than many who have actual Native bloodlines, people always think I am Indigenous. My understanding is that John Rolfe “married” Pocahontas and took her to England, where she was given the Aglicised name Rebecca, she became ill, not hatching the immune system to withstand European diseases and died, less then a year after being taken to England. I am very aware of the Missing Indigenous Women Issue, and it sickens me. One of my best friends growing up, was & is full Navaho, my whole family are close to the Yazzies family, my mom and their mom were good friends and pen pals. My friend went back to the Reservation with her older sister, also my friend & as a Registered Nurse, she worked at the clinic near 4 Corners, in Chinless, Arizona, she married the Pharmacist & my husband and I attended her wedding. She went on to get her Doctrate and became the Head of Native Women’s Health for all of the Southwest.
The Pocahontas movie really is a polarizing film. On the one hand, Native peoples protested it - rightly - because of the gross romanticism, whitewashing, and erasure of a tragedy that befell a young girl, at the hands of a colonialist who was cleaned up into the polite, caring gentleman that he absolutely never was, which is a disgusting revision of history. On the other hand, evangelicals, conservatives, and reactionaries hate it because the film gives a basic rundown of animism - the belief that there is life in everything; that we are all interconnected with nature; that we ought to, therefore, act, individually and collectively, in sync with nature, and for everything we take, give back in equal measure - and paints animism in a good light. These Christian conservatives couldn't stand that, and demonize the film for promoting a "pagan, devil-worshiping agenda". It's a bad film because the Indigenous critics are correct, not because of the conservative critics, who ultimately oppose it because it isn't colonialist enough for them. Anyway, she deserved better, and we need to do right by Indigenous people today, but we can't do that if we keep pushing them to the sidelines, impoverishing them, victimizing them, ignoring them, and treating them as either noble savages or brutal savages, when they're just people, the original peoples of these lands, who need respect, and the land given back.
You're wrong, she had a racoon friend, was older, and John Smith and she were an item!
It's not like revisionist history or anything, they'd never lie to us!
Well, at least they have a good portrayal of an African American princess that spends the majority of the film as a frog, while the other princesses get to be themselves and do cool things. Non problematic.
Really great presentation. Thank you PBS and all involved in making this video.
Wow! I have no words for this tragedy.
Wow😢 im glad i learned this but also sad about her death
I believe you and support you ❤
We have huge ships in our port of Thunder Bay, Ontario. And it's long been said that the guys on these boats take these native women with promise of more drinks and drugs and are never seen again. (easy targets when you're still young and like to party)
to think they sit there on the horizon and what horrors could lie just right there in our port.
A lot of young natives come here for highschool and never make it back home to their communites. They think cops are behind the ppl who wash up on shore.
It's a whole thing here in my town.
theres been a crave documentary and a inside edition made about, Thunder Bay. Scary
Although I am mostly white and I admit I know very little about the real life experience of this, I know my ancestor was one of these women and it horrifies me that her story is so manipulated still. I'm sorry, grandma Maraboots.
People need to be more aware of the real story of Sacagawea as well.
Can someone please tell me who illustrated the painting shown at 1:56?
Hi thanks I like that your saying the ture thing about pocahontas and I agree on mmiwg2 it good that we talk about it and good luckbon yhe next video
I’m native and growing up I was not allowed to watch this and as I got older and my grandmother explained to me the lies and betrayal behind the movie that hid the realistic abuse, kidnapping and all around murder of her. The way they twisted this movie is beyond wrong.
such important info to make accessible to folks, thanks for everything yall do :)
I’m not sure if he covered Sacajawea but that would bean interesting deep dive as well. I always wondered who her baby daddy was?
Watching this quite literally made memories come up of being taught about a john rolfe in school. And no, of course, no textbook or teacher in central Virginia told us that my good sis Amonute was kidnapped and basically sex trafficked. Unfortunately, centuries later, VA the location is running like a port place or a stopping place for for a like of SA/ST cases in their travels. Aaand no acknowledgment of native peoples at all. I barely know the actual tribes of these lands im on. We were never taught. ANd I ignorantly neve looked. But I learned today what tribe she was from today. It's bullshit, but I'm happy I'm here. Also bullshit,? her body being stuck in a museum. Long story short, thank you for educating me. #MMIW
it never hurts to look at your history with an un-propagandized eye...
okay.
it might hurt for a while but you will come away from that experience,
a better human.
always.
I'm glad they're treating these crimes, and the trend of indifference behind them, with the gravity it deserves.
I really hate to be this guy, and the way they're trying to us Pocahontas/Matoaka/Rebecca's story todraw attention to modern native femicide is admirable, but the version of her life here is barely more accurate than the Disney version. As one of many daughters of Powhatan king Powhatan (he took the name of his tribe when he became ruler) she was captured by the Jamestown settlers during the First Anglo-Powhatan War, with the help of one of Powhatan's rival lords. She was a young girl captured as a political hostage, and I can't imagine how traumatic that would be, but there is no evidence she was raped or mistreated (beyond, again, being a kidnapped child). She was given over to the household of Rev. Alex Whitaker, who taught her the basics of Christianity and English culture, and, significantly, kept John Smith away from her- he was known, even then, as the kind of man pretty young girls were not safe around, and he was even subject to an investigation by the Virginia Company because of sexual jokes and comments he made about her. (His excuse, of course, was that it was all just a joke.)
During her years with Whitaker, she met and agreed to marry John Rolfe, a widowed English farmer and bussinesman. Political marriages were common on both sides of the Atlantic, and both cultures instinctively understood the idea of bringing peace by uniting two warring nations in one couple. She married Rolfe, the war rolled over into an uneasy peace, and life went back to as close to normal as it would ever be again for the Powhatans.
Eventually, John Rolfe, the now-renamed Rebecca Rolfe/Pocahontas, and their infant son travel to England as part of a PR campaign for the Jamestown expedition. Her father sent along several of his priests and nobles to act as emissaries to the English crown, as well as explorers and fact-finders.
During her time in Britain, which included a formal audience with King James, Pocahontas fell sick and died. This is maybe the least surprising part of the story- half of her people, or more, had died in the last century from diseases carried by European livestock and crops, to which they had no natural resistance. But among Powhatan's ambassadors, a conspiracy began that she had been poisoned. This was the Powhatan version of "Bush did 9/11"; neither the monarchy nor the people running Jamestown had any good reason to do this, and many reasons not to. In fact, after the death of Pocahontas and, soon after, her father, peace once again broke down between the nations, culminating with the new king Opechankeno's plan to remove the unwanted foreigners in what became known as the Jamestown Massacre. On the orders of the new king, men acting as merchants infiltrated Jamestown and then began to cut down families in their homes. This led to the Second Anglo-Powhatan War, the destruction of the Powhatan confederacy, and the eventual confinement of Virginia natives to small, poor reservations.
I encourage everyone, if you cared enough to read this far, to read Camilla Townsend's book "Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dillema". She's one of the best native history scholars alive, and she tells these stories with the kind of subtlety, grandeur and tragedy they deserve.
Again, good on PBS for drawing attention to the frequent brutalization of native women, and the law's apparent indifference. But I think Malinche/Malintzin or Sacagawea would have made a better connection as native survivors of sexual abuse and brutality.
More of this presenter please