[5] In 1992 or 1993, Baird experienced many dreams that she believes to be visions of her ancestors meeting her and speaking in their language, which she did not understand at first.
[7][8] Baird studied for a master's degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology three years later, where she studied with linguist Dr. Kenneth L. Hale;[9][10] together they collaborated to create a language database based on official written records, government correspondences and religious texts, especially a 1663 Bible printed by Puritan minister John Eliot kept in the archives of MIT.
[4] Baird and her work on Wôpanâak language reconstruction and revival are the subject of a PBS documentary, We Still Live Here: Âs Nutayuneân, directed by Anne Makepeace.
[12] In 2017, Jessie Little Doe Baird received an honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences from Yale University.
[13] In 2020, Baird was named one of USA Today's "Women of the Century" for her work in reviving the Wampanoag language which had not been spoken in 150 years.