An Inspiring Tale

Last December, at a Harvard University Foundation ceremony, a portrait of Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College, was unveiled.

“This is a proud moment in the history of Harvard University and its relations with Native Americans,” foundation director S. Allen Counter told the assembled guests. Counter added that he was happy “that our Native American students are pleased with the portrait, and have requested that it be hung in Annenberg Hall so that future classes of Harvard students will be made aware of the Native American presence at Harvard since its creation”.

Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck graduated from what was then known as Harvard College in 1665. He is the catalyst for Geraldine Brooks’ new novel Caleb’s Crossing. Brooks discovered this remarkable story several years ago when she and her family moved to Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts. “When I moved there I was intrigued by the Wampanoag Indian population that’s never been displaced from their traditional lands and I wanted to know more about the new neighbours of mine,’’ the Australian-born Brooks said in a recent interview.

“And so I gathered material that the tribe had prepared, and one of the things was a map of the island showing sites of significance to the Wampanoag and on it was a notation saying that it was the birthplace of Caleb, the first Native American graduate.”

Brooks didn’t know the story of Caleb, “and I was expecting to see the date 1965, or something in that vicinity, and when I saw it was 1665 I was just blown over’’.

Her novel – set in a strict Puritan settler society – is an imaginative interpretation of Caleb’s story. The narrator is Bethia Mayfield, 12 years old at the start of the story and the daughter of a liberal-minded preacher who takes on the young Native American’s educational cause.

Bethia and Caleb become friends, drawn together by a shared respect for the island’s geography and wildlife. He teaches her the language of his tribe, and she introduces him to reading. Caleb’s curiosity is sparked; his crossing into the European settlers’ culture begins.

Caleb proves to be an exceptional student and quickly masters the disciplines required to sit the Harvard College entrance exams. But his success exacerbates Bethia’s frustration. She too is a quick learner. But her community does not recognise a woman’s right to be educated. Bethia is forced to steal knowledge by listening through doors, glancing at the boy students’ notes, hiding her brother’s books in her basket.

Brooks brings to life the voice of a woman trapped by religious and social constraints. Just as education jettisons Caleb from a familiar culture into an alien and at times blatantly racist one, it prevents Bethia from moving forward. The prospect of home duties offers her no comfort. This struggle, along with the friendship that grows between Bethia and Caleb, elevates Caleb’s Crossing beyond an above-average historical drama.