Pocahontas
Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat

By Dr. Paul Gunn Allen

Most of us know the story of Pocahontas. But do you know that her name was actually Mataoka? Pocahontas was merely a childhood nickname that meant "mischief." These are the things that Dr. Paul Gunn Allen brings to her biography in one of America’s most beloved historical figures.

     All we know of Pocahontas comes from the English accounts of her life. But what about her point of view? How did she fit in with her own people? What was her role in the life of the Powhatan people? Yes, the name of her tribe was Powhatan. It was also the title of the tribe’s leader, but was not the man’s name. Nor was he, as the English thought, the biological father of Pocahontas.

     The reality of her life is much different to the English accounts. The reason is simple; the English understood the Native American culture in terms of their own. They assumed it was a male-dominated society like their own. But their assumption was wrong. The women in this loose federation of Algonquin tribes owned the fields that grew the food crops and the meat the men brought in from the hunt. The Powhatan held his position only because of his powers as a shaman.

      Dr. Allen presents the story of Pocahontas from the point of view of who she was as a Native American and a medicine woman. This changes the historical accounts. It tells a different story of a woman we only thought we knew. Her role as a medicine woman, and possibly a spy, will make a difference in how you look at her. Her actions seen from this point of view are even more heroic than they were from the English version. Pick up a copy of this book and learn history from a different point of view. You’ll find it refreshing.