Opechancanough | People of the Past

[@JYFMuseums]

Here at the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation we have staff from different and diverse backgrounds. Indigenous people are from all over the continent and do not all look the same. Our Indigenous staff pour time, energy, and passion into telling the story of the Powhatan people in Tsenacommacah and it can be hurtful when people assume their heritage based on their appearance. We expect staff and visitors alike to treat one another with respect regarding their culture and histories, so please keep this in mind when commenting. Thank you and enjoy the video!

[@lilaj4621]

Chief Powhatan was my 8th great grandfather. Pocahontas was my 7th great Aunt. I was just explaining this about his younger brothers. 😊

[@somebodynamedmorgan]

We're cousins. He's my 10th great grandfather ❤

[@erykahnoelani_]

He’s my 11th great grandfather ☺️

[@LeeToucheck]

Chief Powhatan is my 9th great grandfather and Pocahontas is my 8th great Aunt and her brother Wahunsonacock Chief Powhatan Tashapiathacho is my 8th great grandfather

[@HanseaticConsortium]

What up cousins!

[@werd2182]

Could someone please tell me the location of the museum where bronze statue (1st depiction in this video) is located? Any information on where the statue can be found would be greatly appreciated. P.s. It is not the same one that is located in the history museum in Richmond (unless there is another statue there that is not on display). I have a feeling this one is in the Williamsburg area, but I can not seem to find it (strange lol).

[@JYFMuseums]

Hello. If you are referring to the statue shown at the :24 mark in the video, it is our statue on display in the gallery at Jamestown Settlement.

[@werd2182]

@JYFMuseums I am, thank you very much! Ill take a drive down there to see it. I went to the Richmond museum yesterday looking to see if it might have been there, but it wasnt lol. Thanks again

[@rollinthunderwolf4407]

You people are real funny The statue has no resemblance to the art depiction at the 1:02 Mark of video. Even when you try telling the truth you lie.

[@kikawi08]

That’s how he looked. His descends even look like that, what’s the problem.. he looks too black to you? That’s what Eastern tribes look like

[@rollinthunderwolf4407]

@@kikawi08 Pay close attention to what I am about to say. If you noted what I said of the depiction at the 1:02 mark of the Video. Depiction is referring to a drawing or art which is shown at the 1:02 mark of the Video. When comparing this drawing or art to the statue it has no resemblance at all. So why would I have a problem with Black when I myself has been misclassified as Black. Yeah I have a problem with this crap because Opechancanough is my 12 or 13 Great Grand Father on one of my direct lines (Paternal father side) and his brother Wahunsonacock is My 12 and 13 Great Grandfather on My Paternal grandmother and My Maternal Grandmother side. These Men are My ancestors and the spirit of them that reside within me tell me to correct the bullshit lies. Plus where did I even mention Black or White as a comparison. I don't overstand you Illogical response.

[@rollinthunderwolf4407]

You have these art depictions that are made up (Faked) in books claiming that The American Indians look like this on the drawing/Art. This is all done to reinforce subliminal imagery in your mind so that you won't connect that the people they classified as Free people of color, Black, Negro are the American Indian. This is all to keep you spell bound the mixing in of different imagery claiming they are the same and they are not. Don't blame me if you don't use discernment and critical thinking when receiving information.

[@alvarojosedossantosferreir5351]

Sometimes, members of the Eastern tribes look black because there has been mixing between those tribes and blacks since the 17th century. In the western tribes, this kind of mixing was not so common. Well, I hope I have helped. Greetings.@@kikawi08

[@anthonydiaz774]

I've heard Opechancanough means "he whose soul is white". I've also read from contemporary English sources that he was not considered to be Powhatan's blood relative but a member of another tribe who intensely mistrusted Europeans. In 1561 the Spanish took two members of a nearby tribe to Spain and Mexico. One of them, nicknamed "Paquiqino" was baptized and given the name Don Luis de Velasco. He returned to his tribe in 1571; the Dominican missionaries who went with him were subsequently killed. Could "Don Luis" and Opechancanough be one and the same? Or is it possible Opechancanough knew Don Luis? If the English translation of Opechancanough is correct I would be inclined to believe the former.

[@JYFMuseums]

That Opechancanough was the Virginia Indian boy recorded as Paquiquineo in Spanish documentary records was a theory proposed by Carl Bridenbaugh in 1981 (Jamestown: 1544-1691). In 1561, Paquiquineo was taken from the Chesapeake Bay by Spanish explorers, baptized in 1562 as Don Luis de Velasco, and returned to Virginia with Jesuit missionaries in 1570. All did not go well for the mission at Ajacán as five months later Don Luis, who reunited with his family, led a war party that killed all but one of the Spaniards. You may find this entry from Encyclopedia Virginia valuable for its insight on the Powhatan Gift Economy and its ramifications for the Jesuit missionaries -- encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/gift-exchange-in-early-virginia-indian-society/ This is a fascinating story and the identification of Don Luis as Opechancanough has been used to explain Opechancanough’s documented hostility towards the English that manifested itself in the calculated 1622 and 1644 deadly attacks on the colony. However, in the 40 years since Bridenbaugh first espoused his theory, it has been neither proven nor disproven by scholars debating it. Further, as some scholars have noted, Opechancanouogh did not need to have had Don Luis’s experiences with Europeans to be anti-English by 1620, but would have had enough of his own exposure to their goals of acculturation, conversion and expansion. History is not uncontested; it is constantly being reinterpreted with fresh viewpoints and the discovery of new evidence. For the historical perspective presented by Bridenbaugh to be accepted, future evaluation of archaeological evidence or documentary research in the Spanish archives may provide the needed support. However, for now, too many questions remain unsolved to wholeheartedly make this connection.

[@dreamcatcher5502]

Your drawings are not all of Jamestown. The drawing of Conquistadors chopping off hands is from Columbus and the Tainos. Your facts are questionable. 🤦‍♀️

[@dustyschwartz1576]

If the history is correct I descend also through Cockacoeske and Colonel John West but that was a long long time ago.lol.

[@selecttravelvacations7472]

Hey cuz!

[@dustyschwartz1576]

Hey

[@tsee123]

me too

[@drewroger813]

He is my 12th Great Grandfather. His Daughter Princess Nicketti was my 11th Great Grandmother

[@jonathoncardwell6786]

Opecancenough was third in line actually.

[@LeeToucheck]

Opechancanough is my 9th great Uncle his brother Chief Powhatan is my 9th great grandfather

[@robnewman6101]

Wow. Interesting.

[@kaizonyan]

I am a descendent

[@eawatahatanguatama383]

🤣🤣🤣

[@lovelife2186]

😹😹😹😹

[@rachdarastrix5251]

So "Powatan" and Opechancanough were brothers. That explains the mistake in John Smith's writing.

[@JYFMuseums]

Smith did not make a mistake in his writings about Powhatan & Opechancanough. He understood their positions and authority.

[@rachdarastrix5251]

@@JYFMuseums Ah, I think I get it now. Its more to do with his understanding of how the multi tribe alliance works.

[@JYFMuseums]

When discussing the Powhatan people, it was not a multi tribe alliance. Through inheritance and warfare, Wahunsenacawh came to rule more than 30 tribes as Mamanatowick. Today historians will describe the Powhatan tribes as a paramount chiefdom and Wahunsenacawh as the paramount chief. He exercised political and economic power as the central authority over the tribes that paid tribute to him.

[@missy7556]

Is this the man they call chief cornstalk? I believe this man is my ancestral grandfather

[@JYFMuseums]

No. The following links may be a good place to start for information about the Shawnee man known as Cornstalk -- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornstalk www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Cornstalk www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1602

[@traceyjones3878]

he is my 9th great granddad

[@chadbowling3069]

Chief eagle plume

[@pamelakuz4709]

Chief Powhatan and his brother statues appear they did have African appearance

[@lovelife2186]

No they didn’t they are so called blacks

[@rshepherd898]

Please do not speak so fast

[@kimtaylor3710]

He was PAMUNKEY, they all were.