Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck

In 1665, Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard University.

Cheeshahteaumuck, of the Wampanoag tribe, came from Martha's Vineyard. He attended a preparatory school in Roxbury. At Harvard, he lived and studied in the Indian College, Harvard's first brick building, with a fellow member of the Wampanoags, Joel Iacoomes.He died of tuberculosis less than a year after graduation in Watertown. [http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/05.01/RememberingNati.html Remembering Native Sons] , "Harvard University Gazette", May 1, 1997.] [ [http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/05.08/HarvardHonorsFi.html Harvard Honors First Native American Students] , Susan Peterson, "Harvard University Gazette", May 8, 1997.] [http://www.nha.org/pdfs/otherislanders/1aWamp2o2.pdf 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.)]

Apart from Cheeshahteaumuck and Iacoomes, at least two other Native American students attended the Indian College. One, Eleazar, died before graduating and the other, John Wampus, left to become a mariner. As for Iacoomes,he was lost in a shipwreck a few months prior to graduation while returning to Harvard from Martha's Vineyard. It is therefore believed that Cheeshahteaumuck is the only native American to have graduated in the lifetime of the
Indian College. These first students studied in an educational system that emphasized Greek, Latin, and religious instruction. [http://www.massmoments.org/moment.cfm?mid=132 Ceremony Honors Early Indian Students] , "Mass Moments" (a newsletter of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities), May 3, 1997. Accessed on line October 22, 2007.]

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