| Jessie Little Doe Baird | |
| Birth Date: | 18 November 1963 |
| Birth Place: | Wareham, Massachusetts, United States |
| Nationality: | Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, American |
| Alma Mater: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Occupation: | Linguist |
| Known For: | Revitalization of Wôpanâak language |
| Awards: | MacArthur Fellowship |
Jessie Little Doe Baird (also Jessie Little Doe Fermino,[1] [2] born 18 November 1963)[3] is a linguist known for her efforts to revive the Wampanoag (Wôpanâak) language. She received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2010. She founded the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project.
She lives in Mashpee, Massachusetts.[4]
In 1992 or 1993, Baird experienced many dreams that she believes 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 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."[5] In around the same year, Baird began teaching the Wôpanâak language at tribal sites in Mashpee and Aquinnah.[6] [7]
Baird studied for a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology three years later, where she studied with linguist Dr. Kenneth L. Hale;[8] [9] 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.[5] [9] This led Baird and Hale in 1996 to begin compiling a Wôpanâak dictionary, with more than 10,000 words.[9]
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.[10]
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.[11]
Baird also serves as the vice-chairwoman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council.[12]
In 2017, Jessie Little Doe Baird received an honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences from Yale University.[13]
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.[14]