Jessie little doe baird biography of mahatma
Jessie Little Doe Baird
Native American linguist
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.[4]
She lives in Mashpee, Massachusetts.[5]
Background
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."[6] In around the same year, Baird began teaching the Wôpanâak language at tribal sites in Mashpee and Aquinnah.[7][8]