Pocahontas - Popular Legend

Popular Legend

After her death, increasingly fanciful and romanticized representations of Pocahontas were produced. The only contemporary portrait of Pocahontas is Simon van de Passe's engraving of 1616. In this portrait, he tried to portray her Virginia- Native American features. Later portraits often portrayed her as more European in appearance.

The myths that arose around Pocahontas' story portrayed her as one who demonstrated the potential of Native Americans to be assimilated into European society. For example, the United States Capitol displays an 1840 painting by John Gadsby Chapman, The Baptism of Pocahontas, in the Rotunda. A government pamphlet, entitled The Picture of the Baptism of Pocahontas, explained the characters in the painting, and praised the Jamestown settlers for introducing Christianity to the "heathen savages".

In another development, Pocahontas' story was romanticized. Some writers preferred accounts of a love story between her and John Smith. The first to publish such a story at length was John Davis in his Travels in the United States of America (1803). In the 19th century, John Brougham produced a burlesque, Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage.

Several films about Pocahontas have been made, beginning with a silent film in 1924. Captain John Smith and Pocahontas was released in 1953 with Jody Lawrance as the titular heroine. The Walt Disney Company's 1995 animated feature Pocahontas presented a fictional love affair between Pocahontas and John Smith. In addition, Pocahontas teaches Smith respect for nature. The sequel, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, depicts her journey to England. In 2005 Terrence Malick directed The New World, a movie depicting the founding of the Jamestown, Virginia settlement, and featuring Q'orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas. Pocahontas: The Legend is the second feature film based on her life.

Neil Young recorded a song about Pocahontas on his album Rust Never Sleeps (1979).