Jessie Little Doe Baird (also Jessie Little Doe Fermino, born 18 November 1963) is a linguist known for her efforts to revive the Wampanoag (Wôpanâak) language. She is the co-founder of the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project. She lives in

Mashpee, Massachusetts Mashpee ( ) is a New England town, town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, on Cape Cod. The population was 15,060 as of 2020. The town is the site of the headquarters and most members of the Mas ...

Background

In 1992 or 1993, Baird experienced many dreams that she believed to be visions of her ancestors meeting her and speaking in their language, which she did not understand at first. According to a prophecy of her

Wampanoag The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and forme ...

community, a woman of their kind would leave her home to bring back their language and "the children of those who had had a hand in breaking the language cycle would help heal it." About this same time, Baird began teaching the Wôpanâak language at tribal sites in Mashpee and

Aquinnah Aquinnah ( ; ) is a New England town, town located on the western end of Martha's Vineyard island, Massachusetts, United States. From 1870 to 1997, the town was incorporated as Gay Head. At the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 439. Aquinnah ...

Education

Baird studied for a master's degree from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, where she studied with linguist Dr. Kenneth L. Hale. Together they collaborated to create a language database based on official written records, government correspondences and religious texts, especially a 1663 Bible printed by Puritan minister John Eliot kept in the archives of MIT. This led Baird and Hale to begin compiling a Wôpanâak dictionary in 1996, with more than 10,000 words.

Advocacy and public service

Jessie Little Doe Baird founded the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project to revitalize the Wampanoag language. The project helped the Mashpee Wampanoag to create a language immersion school. Baird and her work on Wôpanâak language reconstruction and revival are the subject of a PBS documentary, ''We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân'', directed by Anne Makepeace. Baird also serves as the vice-chairwoman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council.

Awards and honors

She received a

MacArthur Fellowship The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and colloquially called the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the MacArthur Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to typically between 20 and ...

in 2010. In 2017, Jessie Little Doe Baird received an honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences from Yale University. In 2020, Baird was named one of USA Today's "Women of the Century" for her work in reviving the Wampanoag language which had not been spoken in 150 years.

References

External links

* 11 min. * Additional footage from the "We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân" documentary (2011).
Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project
Retrieved 14 November 2022. {{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, Jessie Little Doe 1963 births Living people MacArthur Fellows Native American linguists Native American language revitalization MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni Place of birth missing (living people) Linguists of Algic languages Mashpee Wampanoag people Native American people from Massachusetts 20th-century American linguists 21st-century American linguists 20th-century Native American people 21st-century Native American writers 21st-century Native American women American women linguists