Jan 2019

COLONIAL WOMEN’S HISTORY
COMES IN ALL COLORS
The Jamestown Settlement tells long-lost tales of diverse
women — and much more — in colonial America.
BY SCARLET CHENG
The role of women in early American history is being re-examined in a new
exhibition i at the Jamestown Settlement museum in Williamsburg, Virginia.
i i
Through documents, artifacts and interpretative text, Tenacity: Women in
Jamestown and Early Virginia (through Jan. 5, 2020) is part of a movement by many
cultural institutions to take a broader and more inclusive look at history, one that tries
to encompass the participation of women, American Indians and African Americans.
Take the case of Pocahontas, the only woman from that period whose name most
of us know — a museum display tells us how important she was, yet we also realize
how little we know about her. That account by colonist John Smith about her saving
his head from the chopping block? Probably just yarn-spinning on his part. And no,
she did not marry Smith, as the Disney cartoon tells us; she married a tobacco planter
named John Rolfe. Unfortunately, she left no firsthand accounts of her life and times.
For history buffs — or those who like to combine education with their vacay —
this
part of Tidewater Virginia offers a bounty: Three major sites of early American
history are contained on one peninsula, bounded dby the York kRi River on one side and
the James River on the other. Together they make up the Historic Triangle — Jamestown,
Yorktown, and Williamsburg, named one of the top 15 U.S. cities in Travel
+Leisure’s 2017 World’s Best Awards. First came Jamestown, named after King James
I, who in 1606 granted a charter to the Virginia Company to found a colony on North
American land claimed by the crown. After its three ships landed at Cape Henry in
1607, Jamestown became the first permanent English colony in North America. After
Jamestown, the capital of the Virginia Colony moved a few miles inland to Williamsburg
from 1699 to 1780; the 18th-century capital was resurrected into a full-scale
historical restoration in the early-to-mid 20th century, thanks to the Reverend Dr.
W. A. R. Goodwin of Bruton Parish Church and his benefactors John D. and Abby
Aldrich Rockeller. Not far away, Yorktown was the site of the final great battle of the
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