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Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Powhatan statement on Pocahontas

On the website of the Powhatan Renape Nation is a statement I want to direct your attention to... It is called "The Pocahontas Myth." Here's the first two paragraphs:

In 1995, Roy Disney decided to release an animated movie about a Powhatan woman known as "Pocahontas". In answer to a complaint by the Powhatan Nation, he claims the film is "responsible, accurate, and respectful."

We of the Powhatan Nation disagree. The film distorts history beyond recognition. Our offers to assist Disney with cultural and historical accuracy were rejected. Our efforts urging him to reconsider his misguided mission were spurred."

If you teach about Pocahontas, or are selecting books about her for your library or classroom, you might want to read the entire statement. In fact, you might want to have your students read it!

Update: Sunday, May 10, 2010
The link to the statement in the original blog post has been replaced with a link to the Internet Archive because the Powhatan Renape Nation's website is down.
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4 comments:

  1. Jane HathawayThursday, May 8, 2008 at 12:09:00 PM CDT

    This is great.

    What do you recommend re: Sacajawea. I know you've mentioned "The Truth about Sacajawea," by Grandview Publishing Co. I'm a little put off, though, by a review on Amazon.com which points out an accuracy problem with this book.

    What do you think, Debbie?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSaturday, May 9, 2020 at 5:08:00 PM CDT

    The Link to the Powhatan Statement on the Pocahotnas movie isn't available.
    As the Website seems to be written completly in powhatan one can't even search it.
    Could you update the link? I'd love to read the statemnt.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Debbie ReeseSunday, May 10, 2020 at 5:15:00 AM CDT

    Thanks, Anon, for letting me know the link isn't working. For now I've replaced it with a link to the page, as archived at the Internet Archive.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jane HathawaySunday, May 10, 2020 at 5:20:00 AM CDT

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete


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