"Commencement season is arriving in this grand metropolis, the higher education capital of the world. Every graduate has a story. Tiffany Smalley’s just happens to be 346 years old.

She sat in a Harvard Square coffee shop one recent morning telling it in the understated way of hers, repeatedly talking about two young men, Caleb and Joel, Joel and Caleb, as if they might breeze through the door and start hashing over weekend plans.

The familiarity, even the affection, is understandable. They are all Wampanoag Indians, these three. They are accomplished people. They all left Martha’s Vineyard to prosper over four years at Harvard. There is, however, a key distinction: Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck and Joel Iacommes hark from the 1600s, while Tiffany, sipping a Frappuccino and rushing off to an internship, is every bit of the modern world.

Come May 26, the bond between Smalley and both her ancestors will come full circle. That is the day she will stride across the stage to accept a diploma and become the first Wampanoag to graduate from Harvard College since Caleb received his degree in 1665."

Get the Story:
Brian McGrory: Centuries of interruption and a history rejoined (The Boston Globe 5/11)