American History

[Bob]

Sorry!!! Here's Time Magazine's link

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1615175,00.html

[Bob]

Just a reminder: May 7 is the start date....so we have 10 days to go. The book isn't long...328 pages...looks like good reading.

[bosox18d]

Robert,I typed Strange Pictures into Google and it is the first link.Something called Daves Daily.If you click to page 5 of the pics it's there and it is even more amusing in a larger pic.Right underneath it is a beaut with Bush and a Turkey.

[weezo]

The Times article is very well written and seems to be in general accord with the history that will be learned in reading Roundtree's book.

The first map appears on page 10, and shows good details of the waterways in Tsenocomoca. If you look at the middle peninsula, between the York and Rappahannock Rivers, you will notice on the norther side of the peninsula that the peninsula is split at its point by a large bay. That is Mobjack Bay now. On the south and west side of the Mobjack is modern Gloucester County. On the north is modern-day Mathews County. On the Mathews County side, if you come down to the north shore of the Mobjack, you will see a tiny jut of land sticking out. That pont is now an island in the bay with the New Point Comfort Lighthouse on it. The beach that runs along the bay just northwest of New Point is Bavon Beach. I've spent many a happy day on that beach!  Over in Gloucester, in front of the courthouse, is the only (I've been told) statue of Pocahontas in this country. There is also a statue of Pocahontas at the church in Gravesend in England where she in buried. Pocahontas grew up on the north shore of the York River in present-day Gloucester. At the end of the peninsula between the Mobjack and the York River is a bridge that connects Gloucester to Yorktown. There is a new bridge there now, but there used to be a two-lane drawbridge there, that was a traffic bottleneck for the Gloucester and Mathews people who traveled to jobs in Yorktown and Newport News.

[vickiem4]

May's Smithsonian magazine also has Jamestown on cover.

Thanks Bob for sending me link.

I'm away on vacation for two weeks as of Monday but hope to follow this discussion when I return.

Keep on.

[Shirley Marcus]

Vickie
   Thanks for Smithsonian information.  I did not buy it.
   I was able to buy National Geographic and Time.  I have read the map in National Geographic and just the cover of Time.  I have America 400 it is different than the on line Time.
Shirley

[Shirley Marcus]

Anne,
   You are well learned in so many areas.  I marvel at your good writing skills.  And 94 posts how do you do it.  I try to keep it short.  Just got back from Newport.
Shirley

[weezo]

Shirley,

My knowledge is in bits and pieces - stuff that has interested me for some reason or another. I got into Pocahontas because her story is in the instructional standards for Virginia primary students, and I was teaching the little ones to use a computer. So, of course, I wanted them to learn about the American Heroes in the history curriculum. While I was at that job, I started a website that has grown over the years, called Famous Americans. It has a link to Pocahontas, and all the sites I knew about when I did it are linked there. I need to update it to include a link to my new story and to the many web resources for the Jamestown celebration.

Queen Elizabeth II is coming to Virginia next week, to view the Jamestown exhibits and celebration. The official celebration is not until the 12th, so I don't know how much of it she will participate in. A musical friend has compiled a CD of music for the celebration, and will, himself, be one of the musicians performing on the 12th. He is a retired historian specializing in music, and wrote one of the pieces to be performed. It is on his CD. I am ordering some of the CD's this weekend to use as Christmas gifts this year for my five sisters. The CD includes "Powhatan's Daughter March" written by John Philip Sousa for the 1907 Jamestown celebration. That march is the background music for my Pocahontas story.

I have a piece written by Helen Roundtree on the daily life of Powhatan women. It is in JStOR, so would be available only to academicians. Someone sent me a copy. Since it is under copyright, I cannot share it widely on here, but can share it on a limited basis to our "scholars" on this forum.

[Bob]

Handy guide to pronounciation:

Powhattan: Powa tan   (pow as in pow)

Opechancanough: Opa  can canoe

Tsenacomoco:  seena comoco

[vickiem4]

I'm at work muttering out loud at the computer things like:

" opa....ah....um....opa....can...opa...can......


and I work at a mental health facility......

[weezo]

On page 7, in the Introduction, Roundtree offers a pronunciation of the names of her three main characters.

Powhatan = POW-ah-tan
Pocahontas = Poh-cah-Hahn-tus
Opechacanough = Oh-pee-CHAN-can-oh

I have been doing Tsenacomoco as SEN-a-co-MOKE-oh. In my children's book, I spelled it as Tsena Comoco to make it a bit easier for children and their parents to read it aloud. I have no idea if I did it accurately, but me tries me best (grin).

[thanatopsy]

Hi Shirley!

Thanks for informing the Admin about my inability to log on.  Evidently, they have corrected the problem.  Let's hope all goes well.

Have just started reading Rountree. Looks like a good read.

[Shirley Marcus]

Than
   No don't worry.
   I am reading.  Glad you got on.
Shirley

[weezo]

For those who are reading the book, what think you about the "chiefly family" concept used in passing down leadership from brother to brother to sisters before going to the next generation. Roundtree points out it is a nifty way to avoid the problems of an infant monarch. In my children's book, I used the term "royal" family rather than "chiefly", so the children (and parents reading it to them) would understand why Pocahontas was not a "princess" in the European concept. Yet, in spite of her more "lowly" birth in her father's household, she is the one we remember and celebrate. I truly wish I could do as I have the readers do in my stories, and don a History Hat and go back and meet this interesting young woman.

I always wonder why she didn't smile in that portrait made of her in England. For someone named "playful one", I would expect a more cheerful face.

[thanatopsy]

Smiles are very rare in portraiture right up to the 20th century. Unfortunately, people often lost all or most of their teeth by the time they reached their mid to late 20s as dental hygiene was virtually unknown. But yes, she would have looked prettier with a warm and charming smile!