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Primary Source
of the Month

Portrait of Pocahontas, from Generall Historie of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles by Captain John Smith (London, 1632).
CONTENTS
Excerpts from Virginia Women:
The First Two Hundred Years
Primary
Source of the Month
Teaching
Strategy
Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Resources
Teaching News
Quotation of the Month
The
Next
Electronic Field Trip is

Chained to the Land
February 9, 2006
2005
Teaching
Resources Catalog
20052006 Electronic Field
Trip Scholarships

Games, activities, and resources about life in colonial America.
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TOP STORIES
Excerpts from Virginia Women:
The First Two Hundred Years
When you think of Jamestown or the earliest Virginians, what images spring to mind? Chances are you see men in European clothing trying to cope with a very unfamiliar wilderness; or you see Indians watching in wonder these strange white settlers; you may see Captain John Smith handing down his famous “no work, no eat” order to a straggling bunch of very hungry men. But do you see any women?
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More
Primary Source of the Month:
Portrait of Pocahontas
This month's primary source—an engraved portrait of Pocahontas—illustrates some of the difficulties historians encounter when researching Native American women. This image captures an English interpretation of the daughter of the paramount chief Powhatan while also reflecting Pocahontas' acceptance of English culture and religion.
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More
Teaching
Strategy: Virginia Women During the First Two Hundred Years
In this month's activity, students read selected information about Virginia women’s lives from the earliest years of the colony through the Revolutionary War period. They compare the daily lives of women in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, then write several diary entries from the perspective of one colonial woman—either Native American, African American, or white.
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Colonial
Williamsburg Teaching Resources for Your
Classroom Colonial
Williamsburg offers a variety of quality
instructional materials dealing with 18th-century
life, including:
- A Day in the Life (video series)
- Our Common Passage (DVD)
- Hands on History: Lady's Pocket (object kit)
- Mary Geddy's Day (book)
- Ann's Story: 1747 (book)
- A Williamsburg Household (book)
Learn More
Teaching
News
The Internet is full of wonderful resources dealing with women in history. Two to get your started:
A Woman’s Work is Never Done
An online exhibit chronicling women’s various occupations from colonial times through the Industrial Revolution, including detailed information and plenty of examples, an image list, and a complete bibliography.
The Library of Congress Learning Page: Her Story Offers a wide variety of materials including lesson plans, exhibit information, photographs, and other resources for use in teaching women's history.
Quotation
of the Month
“I long to hear that you have declared an independency, and by the way, in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would Remember the Ladies . . . If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.”
~ Abigail Adams,
letter to John Adams, March 31, 1776
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