![]() There Pocahontas met King James I and Queen Anne. In 1616, as part of a plan to revive support for the Virginia colony, the couple traveled to England with their infant son. In 1614, Pocahontas married British colonist John Rolfe. She was dressed in the English fashion and took religious instruction, becoming baptized as a Christian. Several years later, when she was 18, she was lured aboard a British ship in the Jamestown area and held captive for more than a year. She married a tribal member in her early teens. Pocahontas was the daughter of Tidewater Virginia’s legendary chief Powhantan. The most common criticism of Pocahontas revolves around its historical inaccuracy, so let’s set the story straight. Of those who do graduate, only 17% enter college, the lowest percentage of any ethnic group. For example, only 55% of Indian students graduate from high school, compared to 83% of their white peers. Some educators, in fact, contend that American Indians remain the least educated ethnic group in the nation. And this has a profound educational impact. Unfortunately, young Indian students who are treated as though they are less than human - whether in movies, children’s books, sports mascots or phenomenon such as the “tomahawk chop” - will tend to assume they are, indeed, inferior to white children. Apathy and lack of self-esteem are all too common in the school lives of American Indian children, and a key reason is the negative portrayal of Native Americans in movies and television shows.Ĭhildren’s self images are very pliable and susceptible to external forces. The motion picture industry has probably taught more Americans about American Indians than any other source in the teaching and learning process of American children. Yet the overwhelming nature of the Disney juggernaut - a cultural onslaught that includes not just the animated film but spin-off books, toys, dolls and kid’s clothes - compels teachers to tread into this difficult terrain. Pocahontas, for example, can be easily caricatured as politically correct yet historically incorrect, sexist yet feminist, and both ethnographically sensitive and ethnographically suspect. ![]() ![]() This year, the challenge centers around the movie Pocahontas.ĭisney is not always an easy target. As an Indian parent, former kindergarten teacher, principal, and now as an educational consultant preparing future teachers for diverse classrooms, I am constantly approached with questions about American Indians - the overwhelming majority of which are sparked by the movie industry’s blitz of Indian myths and stereotypes. ![]()
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