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Exhibition Join In: Voluntary Assocations in America

Join In: Voluntary Assocations in America

Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project

The Holy Bible: Containing the Old Testament and the New. Translated into the Indian Language. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson, 1663. Bible Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (097.00.00)
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The Holy Bible: Containing the Old Testament and the New. Translated into the Indian Language. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Samuel Green and Marmaduke Johnson, 1663. Bible Collection, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Library of Congress (097.00.00)
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Brochure for Wampanoag Language Reclamation Project, ca. 2018. American Folklife Center, Library of Congress (098.00.00)
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Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project

The Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project (WLRP) began in 1993 under the direction of Jessie Littledoe Baird (b. 1963), a linguist of Algonquian languages. This collaborative effort among the tribes of the Wampanoag Nation reclaims and revitalizes the Wampanoag language once spoken in eastern Massachusetts. Although not spoken for more than a century, the language has survived through hundreds of documents. One important resource in recovering the language is this translation of the Bible published by Puritan missionary John Eliot. Among the many programs launched by WLRP are the Mukayuhsak Weekaw (the Children’s House), a language immersion school for young children; free language classes for the Wampanoag community; and a dictionary.