Post by Dartmouth College

Samson Occom was a Mohegan minister, scholar, and diplomat who raised the funds that helped found Dartmouth. For more than 250 years, his contributions were largely absent from our narrative. This weekend, "Forgotten Founder" brings that story to the screen. "Forgotten Founder: The Untold Story of Samson Occom and Dartmouth" makes its world premiere on April 11 at the Boston International Film Festival. Co-directed by Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel, a descendant of Occom, and Dartmouth Senior Producer Signe Taylor, the film features Indigenous scholars, archival materials, and the voices of Occom's own descendants—among them Sarah Harris '00, vice chairwoman of the Mohegan Tribal Council and the first Mohegan woman to graduate from Dartmouth. Occom's fundraising tour raised more than £12,000—roughly $2.4 million today—yet the funds established a college that largely excluded the Native students he had set out to serve. Last month, President Sian Leah Beilock led a Dartmouth delegation to Mohegan Hill for a special preview screening of the film. The group also visited the Cultural Preservation Center to view the Occom papers repatriated by Dartmouth in 2022 and toured the Tantaquidgeon Museum and Mohegan Church. "Forgotten Founder" grows out of years of collaboration between Dartmouth and The Mohegan Tribe, and we're proud to continue that work. Tickets available now: https://bit.ly/4tHc6zq