There are not a lot of definitive details known about the life of Sequoyah and what information we do have is often conflicting, like was his anglicized name George Guess or George Gist? Did he possibly go by both? Sequoyah has been called an enigmatic figure and a genius because despite all unknowns about his life, what most historians can and do agree on is that he is the sole creator of the Cherokee Alphabet. The alphabet is more accurately called a syllabary, and Sequoyah is the only figure recorded in history to develop a written language all on his own. The development of the syllabary, containing 85 symbols, was a tremendous feat, especially considering Sequoyah had previously been illiterate. The impact of this invention to the Cherokee people was great indeed as history reports that the syllabary was incredibly easy to learn and that after just a few days of instruction Cherokee people were able to begin communicating with each other through letters. It is through the development of this written language that many Cherokee were able to resist removal for as long as they did. It enabled the Cherokee to begin printing their own newspaper, The Cherokee Phoenix, but it had unforeseen circumstances as well. Christian missionaries were able to use this written language to convert the Cherokee to Christianity. The development of the Cherokee written language is more broadly significant as part of the history of visual communication. Even though most western histories focus on the development of the Latin alphabet, the syllabary is seminal to the history of graphic design.

TIMELINE

1766(?) – Sequoyah is born (dates disputed)

1821 – the invention of a Cherokee alphabet by Sequoyah (dates disputed) 

1827 – he first document printed in the Cherokee language, a translation of the first five verses of the book of Genesis

1828 – Charles Bird King completes his painting of Sequoyah

1828 – The Cherokee Phoenix is founded by Elias Boudinot and Samuel Worcester as a newspaper for the Cherokee Nation

1830s – Cherokee Phoenix to editorialize against the Indian Removal act by Cherokee Nation leaders, such as Chief John Ross and editor Elias Boudinot

1834 – The Cherokee Phoenix seized by the Georgia military

1843 – Sequoyah Dies

1844 – Cherokee Nation newspaper is restarted in Indian Territory (Tahlequah, Oklahoma), now called the Cherokee Advocate.

2007 – The Cherokee Phoenix was restarts as an online newspaper

REFERENCES

Bender, M. C. (2002). Signs of Cherokee culture Sequoyah's syllabary in Eastern Cherokee life. University of North Carolina Press.

Bird, T. (1971). Tell Them They Lie: The Sequoyah Myth. Westernlore Press.

Cherokee Phoenix. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved June 9, 2022, from https://www.cherokeephoenix.org/site/about.html

Dasylva, A. O. (2006). 'Culture Education' and the Challenge of Globalization in Modern Nigeria. Oral Tradition, 21(2), 325–341.

Doskey, A. V., & Bannon, F. (2014). Cherokee Phoenix: The Birth and Revival of Cherokee Language Printing in the Southeast. In J. Brock, M. Harper, T. B. Reeves, K. Tepper, & J. Newberry (Eds.), Excerpts (pp. 56-68). Zuckerman Museum of Art. http://juliabrock.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ZMA-Excerpts-catalogue-X.pdf

Fortier, J. (Director). (2021). Searching for Sequoyah [Film]. Turtle Island Productions.

Hoig, S. (1995). Sequoyah : the Cherokee genius. Oklahoma Historical Society: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. 

Kalter, S. (2001). 'America's Histories' Revisited: The Case of Tell Them They Lie. American Indian Quarterly, 25(3), 329.

Leavy, P. (2011). Oral History : Understanding Qualitative Research, Oxford University Press.

Malone, H. T. (1972). Traveller Bird. "Tell Them They Lie: The Sequoyah Myth" (Book Review) [Review of Traveller Bird. "Tell Them They Lie: The Sequoyah Myth" (Book Review)_]. _Western Historical Quarterly, 3(4), 437. Utah State University.

Neuman, Lisa K.. Indian Play : Indigenous Identities at Bacone College, Nebraska, 2020. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucok-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1543723.

Created from ucok-ebooks on 2021-06-17 18:10:44.

Sequoyah. (2018). In P. Lagasse, & Columbia University, The Columbia encyclopedia (8th ed.). Columbia University Press. Credo Reference: https://libproxy.uco.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/columency/sequoyah/0?institutionId=1845

Sequoyah. (2017). In Encyclopaedia Britannica, Britannica concise encyclopedia. Britannica Digital Learning. Credo Reference: https://libproxy.uco.edu/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/ebconcise/sequoyah/0?institutionId=1845

Simek, J. F., Carroll, B. D., Reed, J., Cressler, A., Belt, T., Adams, W., & White, M. (2019). The Red Bird River Shelter (15CY52) Revisited: The Archaeology of the Cherokee Syllabary and of Sequoyah in Kentucky. American Antiquity, 84(2), 302–316. https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2018.8

Simek, J. F., Carroll, B. D., Reed, J., Cressler, A., Belt, T., Adams, W., & White, M. (2020). There Is No Cherokee Syllabary at Red Bird River Shelter (15CY52): Reply to Tankersley and Weeks. American Antiquity, 85(2), 388–391. https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2020.5

Syropoulos, A. (2002). Typesetting Native American Languages. The Journal of Electronic Publishing, 8(1). https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jep/3336451.0008.105/--typesetting-native-american-languages?rgn=main;view=fulltext

Tankersley, K. B., & Weeks, W. R. (2020). Red Bird and Sequoyah: A Reply to Simek et al. American Antiquity, 85(2), 383–387. https://doi.org/10.1017/aaq.2020.4

Trimbur, J., & Goody, J. (1982). The Domestication of the Savage Mind [Review of The Domestication of the Savage Mind_]. _College Composition and Communication, 33(4), 461–463. National Council of Teachers of English. https://doi.org/10.2307/357966

Thane, P. M. (1999). Oral History, Memory and Written Tradition: An Introduction. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 9, 161–168. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3679397

Weeks, R., & Tankersley, K. (2011). Talking leaves and rocks that teach: the archaeological discovery of Sequoyah's oldest written record. Antiquity, 85(329), 978–576. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00068435