Jessie Little Doe Baird
Jessie Little Doe Baird is a linguist known for her efforts to revive the Wampanoag language. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2010.Life
Baird has a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied with Dr. Kenneth L. Hale. She resides in Mashpee, Massachusetts. According to Wampanoag prophecy, a Wampanoag woman would leave her home to bring back the language and "the children of those who had had a hand in breaking the language cycle would help heal it."
In 1993, Baird began teaching the Wôpanâak language at tribal sites in Mashpee and Aquinnah.
She 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.
She also serves as the Vice-Chairwoman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council.
In 2017, Jessie Little Doe Baird received an honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences from Yale University.
