Native American Biography: Jessie Little Doe Baird

 Jessie Little Doe Baird has been instrumental in revitalizing the Wapanoag language.  This is the first time this has been done with a language with no native speakers.  She is Native American, Washpee Wapanoag.  Her people greeted the Pilgrims.  When she was a young woman, she had dreams of people speaking a language she did not know.  These dreams were the first step towards recovering her native language which had not been spoken for 150 years.  She was working as a social worker with no previous linguistic experience.  She went back to school and eventually received a masters degree in linguistics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Though the Wapanoag language had not been spoken, there were written examples, including the first bible printed in America.  Comparing the written language with the pronunciation of other Native American languages, slowly the language has been restored.  Now there is a Wapanoag immersion school where young people are learning their native language.  She cofounded the Wapanoag Language Reclamation Project.  She was named one of the women of the century by USA Today.