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Se-quo-yah- Inventor of the Cherokee Alphabet (Syllabary) Try the Cherokee Alphabet: Scroll to the bottom of this page. You will see each of the symbols Se-quo-yah assigned to Cherokee sounds. Click on a symbol to hear the sound, see its meaning and use it in a sentence. Overview of Se-quo-yah's Discovery Se-quo-yah single-handedly develop a written language. He had been a silversmith who made jewelry. He wanted to sign his name on each work, but he was illiterate and could not read or write in any language. Se-quo-yah began working on his idea, going around to everyone he knew to have them speak all the sounds they knew in the Cherokee language. Then, he created a symbol for each word but after making over 1000 symbols, he decided it was too many for people to learn. Next, he assigned a symbol for each of the 86 sounds used in the Cherokee language. The symbols he created were borrowed from a Bible and a school reader, so most of the symbols look like shapes in Latin, Greek or English. While working to perfect his alphabet, Se-quo-yah met with opposition from many of his neighbors, other members of his tribe, and his own family. They thought he was a witch because of his unusual interest and obsessive work on symbols that were strange to them. When he had finished developing the alphabet, he demonstrated that a letter written in the Cherokee language hundreds of miles away, could be opened and read by a person it was sent to. He convinced the Cherokee elders of the value of the alphabet. The Bible and many books, including the Cherokee Constitution and the New Testament, were translated into the Cherokee alphabet, and a newspaper called the Cherokee Phoenix was started using only Se-quo-yah's alphabet. By 1890, the Cherokee had a 90% literacy rate (read and write), compared with a rate of 10% among Whites. A small Oklahoma State Park preserves the cabin Se-quo-yah lived in after he joined the Cherokees in Indian Territory, now northeast Oklahoma. Details of Se-quo-yah's Life and Invention Se-quo-yah (Sikwo-yi is Cherokee for "pig's foot"). He was born with a handicap, which most believe was a "club foot." He was born around 1770, on the Tennessee River near a Cherokee village called Tushkeegee. His mother was called Wu-teh and his father was a German fur trader named Nathanial Gist (some spell it Guess or Guest). His mother was a member of the Cherokee Indian Paint Clan. It is believed that his father abandoned his Indian wife before Se-quo-yah was born, and that he never saw his father. Although Se-quo-yah was named George Gist and became a fur trader like his White father, he was raised with the Cherokee culture. He was given the Cherokee name Se-quo-yah, meaning pig" foot, because of his malformed foot. Se-quo-yah married a Cherokee woman and had a family. He and his family moved to Cherokee County, Georgia. Even though Se-quo-yah never learned to read or write English, he became captivated by the White Man's ability to communicate by making marks on paper and reading from "talking leaves," as he called the pages of a book. Most have difficulty understanding Se-quo-yah could invent a written alphabet (syllabary), when he did not know how to read or write in any language. This makes his invention even more astounding. As an adult, it had become increasingly difficult for Se-quo-yah to get around because of his foot deformity, so he learned silversmithing and blacksmithing. As he developed his skill, he became proud of the silver jewelry he made, and decided that he needed to sign his name on the back of each jewelry piece like the White silversmiths did, which Se- quo-yah had noticed while visiting a store that sold White Man's silver jewelry. The Idea For the Alphabet Develops He talked with others about the lack a written language among the Cherokee. The following week, Cherokee warriors had taken a White man prisoner, and in his pocket they found a crumpled piece of paper, a letter. The shrewdness of the prisoner prompted him to interpret this letter for his own advantage. The story the "talking leaf" told filled the Indians with wonder and they accepted it as a message from the Great Spirit. The matter was laid before Se-quo-yah, who was even then accounted by them as a brave favored by the gods. He believed it to be simply an invitation of the white men. "Much that red men know, they forget," he stated. "They have no way to preserve it. White men make what they know fast on paper, like catching the wild panther and taming it." But Se-quo-yah was intrigued. He pondered the mystery of the "talking leaf" for weeks and months. In whatever work he was engaged the longing to solve the problem followed him. He never forgot the mystery of the written page. From this time on he watched the use of books and papers in white men's hands. He could neither read nor speak a word of English, but chance put him in possession of a whole bundle of "talking leaves:' in the form of an old English speller. Eagerly he searched this book in the seclusion of his wigwam, attentively he listened, but not one of the talking leaves as much as whispered to him the secret they concealed. He was not discouraged. One evening some young braves were lounging around the campfire, and the topic of conversation was the superior talents of the white man. One said that the pale faces could put their talk on paper and send it to any distance, and those who received it could understand its message. They all agreed this was strange, but they could not see how it was done. Picking up a flat stone, he began scratching on it with a pointed stick, and after a few moments he read to them a sentence which he had written, making a symbol for each word. His attempt to write produced a general laugh, and the conversation ended. The laughing hurt Se-quo-yah like the taunting he had received in childhood about his deformed foot. He seemed to become determined to put the Cherokee language in writing. This set Se-quo-yah on the path of discovery, and like many inventors in history, it became his obsession which was not stopped even when he was tortured as a witch by others in the tribe. Se-quo-yah's Quest to Develop a Written Language Begins- 1809 He began work on developing a Cherokee writing system in 1809. During the war, he became convinced he was on the right path. Unlike white soldiers, he did not write letters home and could not read military orders. After the war Se-quo-yah began in earnest to create symbols that would make words. He and his daughter, Ayoka, played games using the symbols. He became obsessed with developing a new Cherokee alphabet writing system because he knew it would help his people. Se-quo-yah became a recluse in his obsession to perfect the writing system. He endured constant ridicule by friends and even family members, who said he was insane or practicing witchcraft. His first attempt involved a form of picture writing, but he "soon dropped this method as difficult or impossible" when the symbols numbered in the hundreds. Next, he began using symbols of his own creation to represent sentences, then words, and finally syllables, eventually settling on 86 characters that represented all the sounds in the Cherokee tongue. When asked why he wasted so much time with his efforts to develop a written language, Se-quo-yah replied that "If our people think I am making a fool of myself, you may tell them that what I am doing will not make fools of them. They did not cause me to begin, and they shall not cause me to give up. . . ." Resentment and Fear Surround Se-quo-yah- Called a Witch Even his wife Sally, whom he married in 1815, began to believe that this project on which he labored so diligently was inspired by some form of evil. To find peace with his work, Se-quo-yah left his home and moved into a cabin, where he could pursue his quest undisturbed. While he was away from his home on a visit to a friend, his neighbors burned down his house, along with his collection of symbols which he had carved on wood tiles. Finally, his wife's family had enough and sent him packing. Se-quo-yah was caught by Indian vigilantes and mutilated for his "strange" ways. They branded his head and back, his ears were cut off, and his fingers were cut off up to the second joint. This was verified in 1871 by his daughter Gedi. A warrant for his capture and death was actually issued in Knoxville, Tennessee by John Ridge. The warrant was published in the Knoxville Gazette in 1817. The request by the Cherokee Tribe to the paper is as follows: The warrant, (a "wanted poster"), describes Se-quo-yah's appearance, which is impotant because there is no actual undisputed image of him. Se-quo-yah moved west to Arkansas and continued his work. After working on the symbols for 12 years, and withstanding ridicule, abuse, and torture, he reduced the alphabet down to 86 symbols. A demonstration of the written language's ability to communication on paper over long distances in 1821, convinced the elders of the Cherokee Nation to adopt his alphabet. Within a few years, Sequoyah had taught many Cherokees how to read and write in his new alphabet (syllabary), and they taught others until thousands were literate in the Cherokee language. The Cherokee National Council in New Echota, in the state of Georgia, gave him a silver medal for his contribution to the Cherokee People. He wore the medal proudly for the rest of his life. He died while in his 80's in 1843. He had been in Mexico searching for a lost band of Cherokees who were believed to have moved there before the revolution. He wanted to reunite all Cherokees into one Nation. Sequoyah never stopped following his dreams. References Invention of the Cherokee Alphabet. Cherokee Phoenix, 13 Aug 1820. Carpenter, Iris. Tallest Indian. American Education. August-September. 1976. Davis, John B. The Life and Work of Sequoyah. Chronicles of Oklahoma. Vol.8 (2), June 1930. Hodge, Frederick Webb. Sequoyah's Syllabary. Masterkey for Indian Lore and History. Vol 20. 1946. Kinsey, Ron. New Vision of Sequoyah. Masterkey for Indian Lore and History. Vol 53. 1979. |
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Se-quo-yah proved to his tribe that his syllabary
could be used for communication in a dramatic
demonstration with the help of his daughter.
Early in 1821, Se-quo-yah, one of America's
least-known geniuses, called together the leaders of
the Eastern Cherokee Nation.
He had recently returned to his home in Willstown,
Alabama, following a visit to the Western Cherokee
settlement in Arkansas. With him he carried a
sealed letter, written in the Cherokee language to
one of their number by a friend in that community.
Se-quo-yah broke the seal and read the message
aloud, impressing the listeners with news of their
fan of kinsmen. He then invited the men to his house,
where he "wrote down whatever was suggested by
any of the visitors; and now calling in his daughter,
she read it off unhesitatingly to the
wonder-stricken assembly.
could be used for communication in a dramatic
demonstration with the help of his daughter.
Early in 1821, Se-quo-yah, one of America's
least-known geniuses, called together the leaders of
the Eastern Cherokee Nation.
He had recently returned to his home in Willstown,
Alabama, following a visit to the Western Cherokee
settlement in Arkansas. With him he carried a
sealed letter, written in the Cherokee language to
one of their number by a friend in that community.
Se-quo-yah broke the seal and read the message
aloud, impressing the listeners with news of their
fan of kinsmen. He then invited the men to his house,
where he "wrote down whatever was suggested by
any of the visitors; and now calling in his daughter,
she read it off unhesitatingly to the
wonder-stricken assembly.
| Se-quo-yah was middle-aged before the first mission was built in the Cherokee Nation where he was born and raised his family. He never attended school, and throughout his life he never learned to speak, read, or write the English language. |
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