Review of "Native Women's History in Eastern North America before 1900"

Racism was prevalent early on in American culture. Captain John Smith is a good example of a racist who saw differences in culture as negative. He observed the Powhatan indians dividing their labor rolls, and assumed the women to be doing the majority of the difficult labor. This idea that Indian men are "idle" while women are worked to death was carried on into the 19th century and soon led to Native Americans being called savages.

Native Americans are apparently not savages however, American views at the time led to that idea because American men viewed themselves as superior and more able bodied than women. Men in the late 18th century and into the 19th century did not give women any responsibilities, unless they were lower class, and then had no choice but to work.

Women were not made to work because they were viewed as delicate. Therefore, men took on the laborous duties and provided income for the family. If men were lacking in their duties they were considered lazy like the "savages."

Some men however, did want to live lives like the "savages," so they were "lured into the wilderness. John Smith accused these men of "living idle among the savages." However, the men who went into the wilderness to live their lives like the Native Americans were probably seeking refuge from the confining way of life provided by the English colonies. The English colonies of the time were governing people with rules and constraints while Indians live a life in order to survive day to day. Native Americans differ in that they do not have a strict government, but provide guidance to their tribes as needed to coexist. This functional and uncontrolling way of life probably seemed ideal to the average Joe living in the English colonies in the 18th-19th century.

The view John Smith portrayed to the English colonies at the time can be contrasted with William Strachey who provided a more humane division of labor among the Native Americans. He did this by discribing the women as accomplishing the more simple tasks such as gardening while the men assumed the daunting ones such as hunting. Strachey is correct in his observations on division of labor, but still gives a negative feeling to them.

Again, this way of life practiced by the Native Americans is not lazy, savage, or negative whatsoever. In fact it is quite the opposite, it is successful for many reasons. The reasons for why it is successful is because men are more skilled hunters and women are equiped to stay close to home and care for children. Therefore, men can go away from the home for a period of time in order to do their part to provide for the tribe, while women stay home care for the family and farm.