Wah-Hoo-Wah

This file contains material relating to the “Wah-Hoo-Wah” yell, a supposed “Indian yell” first adopted by Dartmouth students in 1879. The yell was often cried out at sports games or other events as a show of Dartmouth pride, invoking Dartmouth’s historical association with Indigenous people. Material includes Prof. John B. Stearns 1965 correspondence with alumni, printed material and his subsequent article on the origin of the yell, as well as additional correspondence and research from the 1920s and 1950s on its origin, which includes the use of a derogatory term for Indigenous people. Also of note are two pieces of ephemera displaying the yell as well as a newspaper article from 1981 with a racist depiction of an indigenous person and a letter with a clipping sent to the Alumni Magazine in 1929 with a racist undertone.

See also: “Indian Symbol” Vertical Files