The tale of the legendary Pocahontas remains one of the most researched and well-documented instances of Native American history. While historians have long dug into the life of Pocahontas, the 1995 Disney animated film based on her life brought the story to the lives of children everywhere, introducing them to a piece of the nation’s past, while becoming one of Disney’s most successful films . Pocahontas raked in over $346 million at the box office upon its June 1995 release. Additionally, the movie won two Academy Awards for Best Musical or Comedy Score for Alan Menken’s composition of the score and Best Original Song for Colors of the Wind. This adored movie highlighted the relationship between the Native American woman (voiced by Irene Bedard) and English explorer John Smith (voiced by Mel Gibson). This portrayal of a Powhatan woman falling for the white settler sparked a conversation about racism, the intense conflict between colonizers and Native Americans in a way that was...
