What We Thought: Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

Afternoon Readers

June 2015

Caleb’s Crossing

by Geraldine Brooks

“At sunset, if I am near the water-and it is hard to be very far from it here -- I pause to watch the splendid disc set the brine aflame and then douse itself in its own fiery broth.” -- Caleb's Crossing

Afternoon Book Club members met to discuss Caleb’s Crossing, a novel inspired by the life of Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk, a member of the Wopanaak tribe of Noepe (Martha’s Vineyard), Massachusett,s born about 1646, and the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College.

Several themes drive the story: the differences between the cultures of Native Americans whose ancestral home was the island and the English people who first bargained with them for their land and then overwhelmed them with laws, religion, education, language, and the transformation of their agriculture and hunting grounds. The fictional character of Bethia Mayfield represents the role of women of the time and how they were repressed and denied opportunities by men justified by English religion in combination with English justice. They were treated not much better than Native Americans. Readers were stunned as well as impressed by Bethia’s sacrifices in order to pursue the education that was not allowed to women.  

Despite the superior scholarly achievements of Caleb and other Native Americans who were educated by English ministers and others, there was a deep racial prejudice against them. Notwithstanding this, Caleb had decided to give up his tribal destiny to become a judge in order to help the Wopanaak deal fairly with the English. His prep school education and college degree came at a great price for his social life and health. The education and Christianization of Caleb and his fellow students at Harvard meant leaving behind Wampanoag culture, language and beliefs. “In the time Joel and Caleb were here, they had to do those things basically to survive and to thrive,” Tiffany Smalley said. “It was out of necessity and changing and becoming Christian Indians, all with the goal of bringing it back to their community.”

He was the very first Native American to graduate from Harvard in 1665. In 2011, Tiffany Smalley was the first Martha’s Vineyard Wopanaak since Caleb Cheeshahteaumauk to complete an undergraduate degree at Harvard. As her family and leaders of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) looked on, Ms. Smalley also accepted a second diploma — a posthumous degree for Caleb’s classmate and fellow Island Wampanoag, Joel Iacoomes, who died in a shipwreck shortly before receiving his degree. He was not acknowledged at the 1665 graduation despite the belief that he would have been the valedictorian. Ms. Smalley noted that Mr. Iacoomes’s degree comes after seven denials from Harvard over the years.

Readers enjoyed Caleb’s story for the meticulously researched history and local color, but felt sadness about the lives of members of both cultures during that time. They decided that people and events of long ago can still resonate in our time of 21st-century Massachusetts.

Please add your thoughts about Caleb's Crossing or other related books in the comments!