Early Jamestown
A document-based teaching unit 

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Five lessons explore the founding and early development of Jamestown and the relationship between the colonists and the indigenous peoples. Documents include excerpts (with modern English versions provided) from the writings of John Smith’s description of the first residents of Jamestown; the ship’s manifest recording the first English settlers and their occupation; short accounts by contemporary observers of the colony; and letters written in 1619 and 1623 to England describing life in the colony. The unit concludes with short readings on the 1622 uprising of the Powhatan Confederacy and the ultimate English conquest and destruction of the Powhatans and the confiscation of their lands.

Grades 5-8

Lessons:

Lesson 1: The Powhatans
Lesson 2: The First Settlers of Jamestown
Lesson 3: Starving Time in Jamestown
Lesson 4: Tobacco Comes to Virginia
Lesson 5: Indian Hostility and White Revenge