Harvard University has had a formal commitment from its inception to educating Indigenous students. The college’s charter of 1650, by which the school continues to be governed, says the purpose of its founding is “the education of the English & Indian Youth of this Country in knowledge: and godlines[s].” From 1655 to 1698, on the site now occupied by Matthews Hall, stood what was known as the “Indian College,” from which Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah was the first graduate in 1665. The purpose of the Indian College was to provide Indigenous young men with a classical education with the intent of sending them as emissaries to their home communities to further spread the English and Christian education they had gained at Harvard.
The bar was especially high for entry into Harvard for potential Indigenous students; they needed to be fluent in at least one classical language in addition to English. This proved challenging enough for white students who had established pathways to college through wealth, family connections and a precollegiate education system, but it was even more difficult for Indigenous students to gain acceptance into Harvard. The other students who entered the Indian College with Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck did not graduate, either dying from disease or leaving the school, and after the building’s removal in 1698, it would be almost three centuries before Harvard had another program dedicated to the needs and concerns of its Indigenous students.
The Harvard University Graduate School of Education received funding in 1970 from the federal government to train Indigenous leaders, and the American Indian Program was created with an initial class of 11 students who went on to get master’s degrees in education – the largest cohort of Indigenous students since the establishment of the Indian College in the 17th century. The physical center of the program, Read House, became the center of intellectual and cultural life for Indigenous students throughout the University, even as the program was reorganized and renamed the Harvard University Native American Program.
The program was designated in 1998 as an interfaculty initiative of the university with goals focused “on interfaculty scholarship and teaching, outreach and student recruitment and support.” Since moving to its 14 Story St. location in 2007, the program has been overseen directly by the offices of the president and the provost, and has more than 1,000 Indigenous alumni.
For program executive director Jordan Clark, working with Indigenous students, faculty, staff and the broader community is a culmination of a lifetime spent in Cambridge and among his Wampanoag of Aquinnah community. Clark’s family has long-standing ties to Cambridge – he is the fourth generation of his family to live in his house, and is raising his young son there as its fifth generation – and he attended Cambridge Public Schools from kindergarten through eighth grade. Clark’s Wampanoag community had always shared knowledge and history of their complicated relationship with Harvard, but Clark himself had no formal ties to the university before coming to the program several years ago after a career in teaching and leadership at the Cambridge School of Weston.
Clark said he feels a strong sense of responsibility and opportunity to do the important work of supporting and empowering Indigenous students and faculty in his own community’s homeland, and sees the program as a crucial partner for the city of Cambridge to engage with around issues of Indigenous history.
But Clark and the program do not want the Indigenous communities represented by students and faculty to be relegated to the past. Indigenous peoples have always been and continue to be dynamic participants in Cambridge’s cultural, intellectual, economic and political realms, and their stories are central to our understanding of the development of the city – and the country. Although centered on the experiences of people of Indigenous descent at Harvard, the program offers many resources to the broader Cambridge community. Its website contains a wealth of information about Indigenous communities, as well as links to upcoming public programs and recordings of past events.
Hunap envisions all of its public programs as spaces where Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members can interact and share ideas and perspectives. Clark encourages curious Cambridge residents not to let their lack of knowledge around Indigenous communities deter them from attending events and seeking connections.
The program is especially hopeful that its proposed new headquarters on Mount Auburn Street will help to bring Cantabrigians together as a space that honors the rich history of the Indigenous communities long present here and acknowledges their vital role in the city’s present and future. The design of the building incorporates traditional elements of local Indigenous culture, including bark siding inspired by the wetus (homes) built by the Wampanoag and the building’s white and purple exterior, representing the importance of wampum to many Indigenous communities. In this space, the program hopes that past and present, college and community can come together to better understand Harvard and Cambridge’s complex history, as well as forging relationships that will carry over into the future of the university and the city.
About History Cambridge
History Cambridge started in 1905 as the Cambridge Historical Society. Today we have a new name and a new mission. We engage with our city to explore how the past influences the present to shape a better future. We recognize that every person in our city knows something about Cambridge’s history, and their knowledge matters. We listen to our community and we live by the ideal that history belongs to everyone. Throughout 2025, we are focusing on the history of East Cambridge. Make history with us at historycambridge.org.
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Beth Folsom is programs manager for History Cambridge.
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