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Sequoyah

Did you mean: Sequoyah (American linguist), Sequoyah, Sequoyah (fictional U.S. state), State of Sequoyah, Sequoyah, Proposed State of (American history)

 
Biography: Sequoyah
 
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Sequoyah (ca. 1770-1843), Cherokee scholar, is the only known Native American to have formulated analphabet for his tribe. This advance enabled thousands of Cherokee to become literate.

Sequoyah was born at the Cherokee village of Taskigi in Tennessee. His father probably was Nathaniel Gist, a trader. His mother was part Cherokee and was abandoned by her husband before the birth of Sequoyah. He used his Cherokee name until he approached manhood, when he assumed the name George Guess (as he understood his father's last name to be).

Crippled for life in a hunting accident, Sequoyah became an excellent silversmith. As an adult, he had contacts with whites which piqued his curiosity about "talking leaves," as he called books. In 1809 he determined to master this secret and to apply it to his own people. After a dozen years of ridicule and insults, he invented a Cherokee alphabet of 85 or 86 characters that allowed every sound in Cherokee to be written.

In 1821 Sequoyah demonstrated his invention before the Cherokee council, which approved his work. Within 2 years thousands of Cherokee had mastered the syllabary, an advance which stimulated the printing of books in the Cherokee language as well as some newspapers printed partly in Cherokee.

In 1823 Sequoyah went to Arkansas to teach his syllabary to the Cherokee who already had migrated westward, and he moved with them to Oklahoma in 1828. He became somewhat active in tribal politics and was a Cherokee delegate to Washington, D.C., in 1828. With his syllabary a success, Sequoyah devoted much of his time to studying other tribal languages in a search for common elements. His tribe recognized the importance of his contribution when, in 1841, it voted him an allowance, which became an annuity of $300.

Early in 1843 Sequoyah became interested in a tribal tradition that said that part of the Cherokee nation had migrated west of the Mississippi River prior to the American Revolution. He set out to find this group, a trek that led him westward and southward, and he died in August 1843, possibly in the state of Tamaulipas in Mexico.

Sequoyah is commemorated by the state of Oklahoma, which placed a statue of him in the nation's capital. Also, a redwood tree, the Sequoia, was named in his honor, as was the Sequoia National Park.

Further Reading

The standard biography of this great Native American is Grant Foreman, Sequoyah (1938). Brief but useful is Kate Dickinson Sweetser, Book of Indian Braves (1913). Grace S. Woodward, The Cherokees (1963), assesses the impact of Sequoyah's syllabary.

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Sequoyah
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(born c. 1760/1770, Taskigi, North Carolina colony — died August 1843, near San Fernando, Mex.) Creator of the Cherokee writing system. Sequoyah was probably the son of a British trader. Convinced that the secret of the white people's power was written language, Sequoyah set about developing a Cherokee system. Adapting letters from English, Greek, and Hebrew, he created a system of 86 symbols representing all the syllables of the Cherokee language. Most Cherokee quickly became literate as a result. Sequoyah never learned to speak, read, or write English.

For more information on Sequoyah, visit Britannica.com.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Sequoyah
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Sequoyah (sĭkwoi'ə) , c.1766–1843, Native North American leader, creator of the Cherokee syllabary, b. Loudon co., Tenn. Although many historians believe that he was the son of a Cherokee woman and a white trader named Nathaniel Gist, his descendants dispute this claim. To most Americans he was known as George Guess; to the Cherokee he was known as Sogwali. The name Sequoyah was given to him by missionaries. A silversmith and a trader in the Cherokee country in Georgia, he set out to create a system for reducing the Cherokee language to writing, and he compiled a table of 85 characters; he took some letters from an English spelling book and by inversion, modification, and invention adopted the symbols to Cherokee sounds. There is some dispute as to when the syllabary was completed. Many historians date its completion at about 1821; Cherokee tradition holds that it was created much earlier and was actually in use as early as the late 18th cent. In 1822, Sequoyah visited the Cherokee in Arkansas, and soon he taught thousands of the Native Americans to read and write. He moved with them to present-day Oklahoma. Parts of the Bible were soon printed in Cherokee, and in 1828 a weekly newspaper was begun. His remarkable achievement helped to unite the Cherokee and make them leaders among other Native Americans. The giant tree, sequoia, is named for him.

Bibliography

See biographies by G. Foreman (1938, repr. 1970) and C. C. Coblentz (1946, repr. 1962); Traveller Bird, Tell Them They Lie: The Sequoyah Myth (1971).

 
Wikipedia: Sequoyah
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For other uses, see Sequoyah (disambiguation).
 This article contains Cherokee syllabic characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Cherokee syllabics.
Sequoyah

SE-QUO-YAH - a lithograph from Indian Tribes, McKinney and Hall, 1856. This lithograph is from the portrait painted by Charles Bird King in 1828.
Born c. 1770
Taskigi, Cherokee Nation (near present day, Knoxville, Tennessee)[1]
Died August 1843 (1843-09)
Tamaulipas, Mexico
Nationality Cherokee
Other names George Guess or Gist
Occupation Silversmith, Blacksmith, Teacher, Soldier
Spouse(s) 1st:Sally (maiden name unknown), 2nd:U-ti-yu
Children Four with first wife, three with second
Parents Nathaniel Gist, Wut-teh
Signature
File:ᏍᏏᏉᏯ

Sequoyah (ᏍᏏᏉᏯ Ssiquoya, as he signed his name,[2][3] or ᏎᏉᏯ Se-quo-ya, as his name is often spelled today in Cherokee) (circa 1767–1843), named in English George Gist or Guess, was a Cherokee silversmith who in 1821 completed his independent creation of a Cherokee syllabary, making reading and writing in Cherokee possible. This was one of the only times in recorded history that a member of an illiterate people independently created an effective writing system.[1][4] After seeing its worth, the Cherokee Nation rapidly began to use his syllabary and officially adopted it in 1825. Their literacy rate rapidly surpassed that of surrounding European-American settlers.[1]

Contents

Early life

Sequoyah's heroic status has led to several competing accounts of his life that are speculative, contradictory, or fabricated.[5]

James Mooney, a prominent anthropologist and historian of the Cherokee people, quoted a cousin as saying that as a little boy, Sequoyah spent his early years with his mother in the village of Tuskegee. Estimates of his birth year ranged from 1760-1776. His name is believed to come from the Cherokee word siqua meaning 'hog'. This is either a reference to a childhood deformity or a later injury that left Sequoyah disabled.[6]

His mother Wut-teh was known to be Cherokee, belonging to the Paint Clan. Mooney stated that she was the niece of a Cherokee chief. McKinney and Hall noted that she was a niece of chiefs that have been identified as the brothers Old Tassel and Doublehead. Since John Watts a.k.a. Young Tassel was a nephew of the two chiefs, it is likely that Wut-teh and John Watts were siblings. Sources differ as to the identity of Sequoyah's father. Mooney and others suggested that he was possibly a fur trader, who would have been a man of some social status and financial backing.[7] Grant Foreman identified him as Nathaniel Gist, a commissioned officer with the Continental Army associated with George Washington.[8][9] In one Cherokee source, his father is said to be a half-blood and his grandfather a white man.[10]

Sequoyah first married Sally Waters, with whom he had four children. Another wife was Utiyu, with whom he had three children. He may have also had three other wives, since polygamy was common among the Cherokees. At some point before 1809, Sequoyah moved to Willstown, Cherokee Nation, in present-day northeast Alabama. There he established his trade as a silversmith.[11]

Creation of the syllabary

Sequoyah's syllabary in the order that he originally arranged the characters.

As a silversmith, Sequoyah dealt regularly with whites who had settled in the area. The Native Americans were impressed by their writing, referring to their correspondence as "talking leaves." Around 1809[1], Sequoyah began work to create a system of writing for the Cherokee language. At first he sought to create a character for each word in the language. He spent a year on this effort, leaving his fields unplanted, so that his friends and neighbors thought he had lost his mind.[10][12] His wife is said to have burnt his initial work, believing it to be witchcraft.[1]

Sequoyah did not succeed until he gave up trying to represent entire words and instead developed a symbol for each syllable in the language. After approximately a month, he had a system of 86 characters, some of which were Roman letters that he obtained from a spelling book.[10] “In their present form many of the syllabary characters resemble Roman, Cyrillic or Greek letters or Arabic numerals," says Janine Scancarelli, a scholar of Cherokee writing, "but there is no apparent relationship between their sounds in other languages and in Cherokee.”[1]

Unable to find people willing to learn the syllabary, he taught it to his daughter Ayokeh, also spelled Ayoka,[1] and then traveled to present-day Arkansas where some Cherokee had settled. When he tried to convince the local leaders of the syllabary's usefulness, they doubted him, believing that the symbols were merely ad hoc reminders. Sequoyah asked each of them to say a word, which he wrote down, and then called his daughter in to read the words back. This demonstration convinced the leaders to let him teach the syllabary to a few more people. This took several months, during which it was rumored that he might be using the students for sorcery. After completing the lessons, he was further tested by writing a dictated letter to each student, and reading a dictated response. This test convinced the Arkansas Cherokee that he had created a practical writing system.[12]

When Sequoyah returned east, he brought a sealed envelope containing a written speech from one of the Arkansas Cherokee leaders. By reading this speech, he convinced the eastern Cherokee also to learn the system, after which it spread rapidly.[10][12]

In 1825 the Cherokee Nation officially adopted the writing system. From 1828 to 1834 writers and editors used Sequoyah's syllabary to print the Cherokee Phoenix, the first newspaper of the Cherokee Nation with text in English and Cherokee.[13]

Life in Arkansas and further west

After the acceptance of his syllabary by the nation in 1825, Sequoyah walked to the new Cherokee territory in Arkansas. There he set up a blacksmith shop and a salt works. He continued to teach the syllabary to anyone who came to him. In 1828, Sequoyah journeyed to Washington, D.C. as part of a delegation to negotiate a treaty for land in Indian Territory.

His trip brought him into contact with representatives of other Native American tribes from around the nation. With these meetings he decided to create a syllabary for universal use among Native American tribes. With this in mind, Sequoyah began to journey to areas of present-day Arizona and New Mexico seeking tribes there.

In addition, Sequoyah dreamed of seeing the splintered Cherokee Nation reunited. Between 1843 and 1845, he died during a trip to Mexico seeking Cherokees who had moved there. His burial location is believed to be at the border of Mexico and Texas. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief J. B. Milam funded an expedition to find Sequoyah's grave in Mexico.[14] A party of Cherokee and non-Cherokee scholars embarked from Eagle Pass, Texas on January 1939. They found a grave site near a fresh water spring in Coahuila, Mexico but could not conclusively determine the grave site did in fact belong to Sequoyah.[15]

Addressing the exalted place Sequoyah holds in Cherokee imagination, ethnographer Jack Kilpatrick wrote: "Sequoyah was always in the wilderness. He walked about, but he was not a hunter. I wonder what he was looking for."[15]

Sequoyah's Cabin, a frontier cabin which he lived in during 1829-1844, is located in Oklahoma. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.

Lee Lawrie, sculpted bronze figure of Sequoyah (1939). Library of Congress John Adams Building, Washington, D.C.

See Also

Sequoyah's namesakes

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wilford, John Noble. "Carvings From Cherokee Script’s Dawn ." New York Times. 22 June 2009 (retrieved 23 June 2009)
  2. ^ Morand, Ann; Kevin Smith; Daniel C. Swan; Sarah Erwin (2003). Treasures of Gilcrease: Selections from the Permanent Collection. Tulsa, OK: Gilcrease Museum. ISBN 097256571X. 
  3. ^ Holmes, Ruth Bradley; Betty Sharp Smith (1976). Beginning Cherokee: Talisgo Galiquogi Dideliquasdodi Tsalagi Digoweli. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1362-6. 
  4. ^ "Sequoyah", New Georgia Encyclopedia, accessed 3 Jan 2009
  5. ^ Fogelson, Raymond D. (1974). "On the Varieties of Indian History: Sequoyah and Traveller Bird". Journal of Ethnic Studies 2. 
  6. ^ London, 193
  7. ^ Robert Bieder, "Sault-ste-marie-and-the-war-of-1812", Indiana Magazine of History, XCV (Mar 1999), accessed 13 Dec 2008
  8. ^ "Sequoyah", New Georgia Encyclopedia, accessed 3 Jan 2009
  9. ^ Samuel C. Williams, "The Father of Sequoyah: Nathaniel Gist", Chronicles of Oklahoma, 15 (March 1937), pp.10-11
  10. ^ a b c d G. C. (1820-08-13). "Invention of the Cherokee Alphabet". Cherokee Phoenix 1 (24). 
  11. ^ Feeling, Durbin. Cherokee-English Dictionary: Tsalagi-Yonega Didehlogwasdohdi. Tahlequah, Oklahoma: Cherokee Nation, 1975: xvii
  12. ^ a b c Boudinot, Elias (1832-04-01). "Invention of a new Alphabet". American Annals of Education. 
  13. ^ "Sequoyah", New Georgia Encyclopedia, accessed 3 Jan 2009
  14. ^ J. B. Milam, McFarlin Library, University of Tulsa. Libraries & Cultures: Bookplate Archive. 2001 (retrieved 23 June 2009)
  15. ^ a b Meredith, Howard L. Bartley Milam: Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Muskogee, Oklahoma: Indian University Press, 1985: 47. ISBN 0-940392-17-8
  16. ^ Scheidt, Laurel. Hiking Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2002: 68. ISBN 978-0762711222 (retrieved through Google books, 23 June 2009)
  17. ^ Sequoyah Birthplace Museum

References

  • Bender, Margaret. (2002) Signs of Cherokee Culture: Sequoyah's Syllabary in Eastern Cherokee Life. Chapel Hill:University of North Carolina Press.
  • Feeling, Durbin. Cherokee-English Dictionary: Tsalagi-Yonega Didehlogwasdohdi. Tahlequah, Oklahoma: Cherokee Nation, 1975: xvii
  • Holmes, Ruth Bradley; Betty Sharp Smith (1976). Beginning Cherokee: Talisgo Galiquogi Dideliquasdodi Tsalagi Digoweli. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-1362-6.
  • Foreman, Grant, Sequoyah, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman,OK, 1938.
  • McKinney, Thomas and Hall, James, History of the Indian Tribes of North America. (Philadelphia,PA, 1837-1844).

External links


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Did you mean: Sequoyah (American linguist), Sequoyah, Sequoyah (fictional U.S. state), State of Sequoyah, Sequoyah, Proposed State of (American history)


 

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