Mr

Mary Jemison was born September 17, 1743. She and her family was captured by Shawnee Indians and French soldiers in April of 1758 in Pennsylvania when she was about 15 years old. Her family would later be killed and she would be taken to Ohio to be sold into slavery to the Senecas. Eventually to be adopted by the tribe. In this essay I will cover the way that women were treated in the tribes as well as their place in their tribes in contrast to that of the colonists treatment of women. In these points I will explain, why when given the opportunity to go back to the colonies, Mary Jamison chose to stay with her tribe.

To begin, I'll speak on what life was like for colonial women at the time. When it came to the decision making process, women were not included. Everything from having the right to vote, to choosing who they would marry. Societally it was not the place of a woman to often share their opinion on matters of state even at home. Women as a matter of speaking, property. They were not even what we would call today a citizen.

This is greatly contrasted in the Seneca way of life. It is evident with Mary Jamison's first contact with her purchasers. They were on their way to this slave market to pursue their right to receive wither a prisoner or scalp for the loss of their brother in Washington's war. They had the right through their own customs, that when one of their own is taken captive or slain in battle that the nearest relative to have the scalp of the enemy. The retribution was being done by women.

Another point to make is that Seneca women were no strangers to violence, in the defense of family or of themselves. It is a part of their culture. Even in the hunting they play a role, accompanying the men/hunters to tend to the kill. Chores around their communities were shared. Not just the responsibility of women as in the colonies.

As far as the politics of the tribe if you would call it that. The women too played a role in this. The women's

opinions were highly valued as they had years of wisdom accompanying them. This was not so In the colonies.

In Mary Jamison's story, she was later allowed to marry. And upon the death of her husband she was allowed again to remarry. She ended up having 6 children and was given 2 square miles of land to own. She was never looked down on raising her children alone, and was not necessarily under any pressure to remarry. Unlike what it would have been like if she had been back in