Jessie Little Doe Baird has led the effort to bring back to the Wampanoag people the language once spoken by their ancestors. This path-blazing work, which Ms. Baird has now pursued for decades with colleagues across the Wampanoag Nation, began with the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project formation, which is reclaiming the language. In a journey that began as a vision,  Click here for a -minute video of Ms. Baird’s presentation on January 25, 2023 sponsored by the Massachusetts Historical Society.

(Above) Director of Programs, Exhibitions and Community Partnerships for the Massachusetts Historical Society, Gavin Kleespies opened the program. then introduced  Ms. Baird, who earned an advanced degree in linguistics at MIT and initiated the creation of vast resources needed for the work of language reclamation. Her work earned her a MacArthur Genius Award Fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation in 2010. Ms. Baird has also served as vice-chairwoman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council and was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences from Yale University.

This presentation corresponds with the Society’s publication of Wôpanâak Inscribed, a digital edition that presents transcriptions of a manuscript phrasebook compiled in 1666 by a missionary to Noepe (more commonly known today as Martha’s Vineyard).

Click here for a 7-minute story about the project by PBS NewsHour.