Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck

Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck
Born ~ 1644
Martha's Vineyard
(Wampanoag: Noepe)
Died ~ 1666
Watertown, Massachusetts
Alma mater Harvard
Occupation Student
Known for Graduating from Harvard

Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (estimated 1644 - 1666) was the first American Indian to graduate from Harvard University.

Life

Little is known about Cheeshahteaumuck's family or early life except that he was born into the Wampanoag tribe on Martha's Vineyard and he received a formal education. He and his classmate Joel Hiacoomes were taught on the Vineyard by Peter Folger, the maternal grandfather to Benjamin Franklin. The two went on to attend Elijah Corlett's grammar school in Cambridge in around 1657.[1]

Harvard and death

Cheeshahteaumuck and Hiacoomes both entered Harvard's Indian College in 1661.[1] Hiacoomes died in a shipwreck a few months prior to graduation while returning to Harvard from Martha's Vineyard. Cheeshahteaumuck became the first American Indian to graduate from Harvard in 1665. He died of tuberculosis in Watertown, Massachusetts less than a year after graduation.[2][3][4]

One document remains from Cheeshahteaumuck's time at Harvard which he purportedly wrote,[1] written entirely in Latin. This short letter contains references to Greek mythology, ancient philosophers, and Christian ideology. [1] Some consider this to be the earliest extant writing by an Indian on the continent.[1]

The Harvard Foundation unveiled a portrait of Cheeshahteaumuck on December 16, 2010 in the Annenberg Hall,[5] painted by Stephen E. Coit.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Drew., Lopenzina, (2012). Red ink : native Americans picking up the pen in the colonial period. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 126–132. ISBN 9781438439792. OCLC 781628796.
  2. ↑ "Remembering Native Sons" Archived June 3, 2006, at the Wayback Machine., Harvard University Gazette, May 1, 1997.
  3. ↑ "Harvard Honors First Native American Students" Archived December 23, 2005, at the Wayback Machine., Susan Peterson, Harvard University Gazette, May 8, 1997.
  4. ↑ "The Ancient Proprietors: Wampanoags", Part I: Nantucket's First Peoples of Color, The Other Islanders, Frances Ruley Karttunen, Nantucket, Massachusetts: Nantucket Historical Association, 2002. Accessed on line October 22, 2007. This online book has also been issued in a print edition (New Bedford, Massachusetts: Spinner Publications, Inc., 2005, ISBN 0-932027-93-8.)
  5. ↑ "Wampanoag To Be Honored With Degree | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2017-09-22.


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