The students here are basically
uncovering layers of history,
and specifically
they are looking
for evidence of the Harvard
Indian College, which
it was established
here in the 1650s,
and was a very important part
of early Harvard history.
The Harvard Indian College
was the first brick building
built here on campus.
Harvard, in the 1640s, was
actually falling apart.
It was only a few buildings,
and those buildings
weren't very well designed
for this Native New England
environment, and they were
in dire need of funds.
Funds actually came in
that allowed the college
to continue from the
Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel, which had
just been established.
One of the main
goals of the Society
was the education
of Indian youth.
And one of the main purposes
of that education what
is the idea that they could
train young native men to be
missionaries in their
own communities,
and also scholars
in their own right.
Here at Harvard Indian College,
English and Native scholars
study side by side.
They were not
educated separately.
At the same time, the
Native nations in the region
also had an idea about
engaging in a kind of exchange
with the newcomers here.
And this was a very old,
indigenous tradition
that involves sending the
sons of the community, often
the sons of leaders,
to neighboring nations
so that they could be educated
in the ways of those nations
with the idea in mind of
keeping peace between people
who shared space.
In order to get into
Harvard, all students,
whether English or Indian,
had to go through a very, very
rigorous preparatory
school program, which
involved learning Latin,
Greek, English, and Hebrew,
which they mastered by the time
they got to Harvard College.
[SIFTING SOUNDS]
Joel Iacoomes and
Caleb Cheeshateaumuck
were classmates here in the
Indian College in the 1600s.
They were the only
two native students
to graduate from the Indian
College during that time.
They really paved the
way for native students
to be here at Harvard.
They were both Wampanoag.
They came here as young
men to become leaders
and to get an
education and go out
and to lead their people
after coming to Harvard.
Recently we celebrated the
posthumous degree awarding
for Joel Iacoomes.
That I confirm a special
posthumous bachelor's degree
upon Joel Iacoomes, member
of the Harvard College
class of 1665.
This past May we also
celebrated the graduation
of Tiffany Smalley, also
of the Wampanoag nation,
and one of the first
native students
to graduate from the
college since Joel and Celeb
from Wampanoag nation.
It's pretty shocking
sometimes for individuals
to realize we have 200
native students on campus.
Within that 200 students,
we have about half
are graduate students and half
are undergraduate students.
So our population is actually
quite robust and very active.
We have student groups here
who do all kinds of events.
We've We've done programming.
Specifically, we have
the Native Americans
of Harvard College,
who put the Wetu here,
right on the site of
the dig, last spring.
And it was something that
was very momentous for them.
It really.
Celebrated Wampanoag
history, but also
the history here at Harvard.
This course and the dig
itself has been extremely
important to the native
community here at Harvard,
one that's brought to light the
history of Harvard, a history
that I think a lot of
individuals aren't aware of.
Especially students
who come here
for the first time that are
a part of Harvard College,
they're part of the
university, and they
haven't been aware of
the fact that there
was an Indian College.
And that the mission
of the university
is to educate native
youth, to bring them
here to make them leaders
so that when they're done
they go out and they could be
leaders across the country.
