ABSTRACT
Mr. Dunn is teaching a unit on the European colonization of North America in an 11th grade U.S. history course. He wants to show students the way many cultures from Europe, America, and Africa blended in the colonies. He thinks that students have misconceptions about the relationship between individuals from the three continents. He wants students to understand that Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans were all active agents of change. He thinks about the best possible texts that he might use. He could show a clip from the Disney movie Pocahontas to illustrate the interaction, but he is afraid that it might reinforce stereotypes and misunderstandings. The textbook has a long section about the English colonies but it doesn’t portray Native Americans or Africans as meaningful contributors to colonial life, but merely as victims. He wonders whether there are primary sources that students could access that illustrate the complex relationships. He researches online and discovers John White, a Nipmuck Indian, who died in London, England in 1679 (Pulsipher, 2003). He decides that John White, formerly known as John Wampus, has an interesting story that is intertwined with major colonial events such as King Philip’s War. He fi nds relevant, interesting primary and secondary sources on John White and determines that White’s story will provide an engaging case study through which students can explore Native American and English relationships in the early colonies.
