Pocahontas: Constructing the Jacobean Princess

Chestertown, MD — As a daughter of Powhatan, the powerful chief of the Algonquian Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia, Pocahontas played a significant role in American history. In 1616 John Smith wrote that Pocahontas was "the instrument to pursurve this colonie [Jamestown] from death, famine, and utter confusion." Her contributions as a vital link between the native Americans and the English will be explored in a lecture by Dr. Karen Robertson on Thursday, March 5, at 4:30 p.m. at the Casey Academic Center Forum at Washington College.

Karen Robertson received her Ph.D. from Columbia University, where she wrote her dissertation on Jacobean revenge tragedy. Dr. Robertson has taught at Vassar College since 1982. Her recent publications include "Pocahontas at the Masque" Signs and Maids and Mistresses, Cousins and Queens: Women's Alliances in Early Modern England (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), a volume of essays co-edited with Susan Frye. She is writing a book on Pocahontas among the Jacobeans, a study of the intersections of gender, race and class in Jacobean England.

"Pocahontas: Constructing the Jacobean Princess" is free and open to the public. It is sponsored by the Friends of Miller Library and the Center for Environment & Society at Washington College. For more information, contact 410-810-7161.