Sequoyah (ᏍᏏᏉᏱ S-si-quo-ya[1] in
Cherokee) (circa 1767 - 1843), known as George Guess, Guest or Gist, was a Cherokee
silversmith who invented the Cherokee syllabary, thus earning him a place on the
list of inventors of writing systems.
Birth and early life
The exact place and date of Sequoyah's birth are unknown, since no written record exists. James
Mooney, a prominent anthropologist and historian of the Cherokee people, quoted a cousin in saying that as a little boy
Sequoyah spent his early years with his mother in the village of Tuskegee,
Tennessee.
The names Sequoyah or Sequoia are both spellings given by missionaries, said to be as corruptions of the Cherokee name Sogwali
or Sikwâ'yǐ which is believed to be derived from the Cherokee word siqua meaning 'hog'. This
is either a reference to a childhood deformity or a later injury that left Sequoyah disabled.
Of his mother, Wut-teh, it is known that she was a Cherokee and belonged to the Paint Clan.
Mooney states that she was the niece of a Cherokee chief. His father was either
white or part-white and part Native
American. Sources differ as to the exact identity of Sequoyah's father, but many (including Mooney) suggest that he was
possibly a fur trader or the son of Christopher Gist
or Nathaniel Gist, a scout for George
Washington.
The fact that Sequoyah did not speak English may be an indication that he and his
mother were abandoned by his father. At some point before 1809, Sequoyah moved to the
Willstown of Alabama. There he established his trade as a silversmith. He may have fought in
the Creek War between 1813 and 1814 against the Red Sticks. If he in fact was disabled, it is highly unlikely
that he would have fought, but his disability could have even been a result of the battle itself.
"Talking Leaves" and a syllabary
Example of characters from Sequoyah's syllabary. The first three characters together read
tsalagi which means
"Cherokee."
As a silversmith, Sequoyah dealt regularly with whites who had settled in the area. Often,
the Native Americans were impressed by their writing, referring to their correspondence as
"talking leaves." Around 1809, Sequoyah began work to create a system of writing for the Cherokee
language. From 1828 to 1834 the language was used in the Cherokee Phoenix which
represented the Cherokee Nation.
After attempting to create a character for each word, Sequoyah decided to divide each word
into syllables and create one character for each syllable. Utilizing the Roman alphabet and quite possibly the Cyrillic alphabet, he
created 86 characters to represent the various syllables. This work took Sequoyah 12 years to
complete.
There was some doubt amongst his fellow Cherokee as to the worthiness of his syllabary. In order to prove his creation,
Sequoyah taught his daughter Ah-yo-ka how to read and write in Cherokee. After amazing locals
with his new writing, Sequoyah attempted to display his feat to tribal medicine men only to
be rebuffed by them for being possessed by evil spirits. Sequoyah finally proved his feat to a gathering of Chickamaugan warriors. Quickly news of the syllabary spread and the
Cherokee were filling schools in order to learn the new written language. By 1823 the syllabary was in full use by the Cherokee Nation. The writing system was made official by the Cherokee
Nation in 1825. It is still used today by many Cherokee speakers, more in Oklahoma than in North
Carolina (Bender 2002). It is used primarily in Christian worship and study, centered around reading the Scripture in Cherokee,
but also by some for traditional medicine.
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 Oklahoma.
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 all 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. It was on a trip seeking Cherokees who had
moved to Mexico that he died between 1843 and 1845.
Sequoyah's namesakes
- The name of the district where Sequoyah had lived in Oklahoma was changed to Sequoyah District in 1851. When Oklahoma was admitted to the union, that area became known as Sequoyah
County.
- The Sequoia tree is generally thought to be named after him (see, for instance, the
OED). Some botanists have challenged this claim [verification needed].
- The proposed State of Sequoyah was named in his honor.
- Sequoyah High School (Oklahoma) is a Native American Boarding School
named after the inventor of the Cherokee syllabary.
- Sequoyah Research Center is a research center dedicated to collecting and
archiving Native American thought and literature.
- Mount Sequoyah in the Great Smoky
Mountains was named in honor of Sequoyah. It is among the most remote mountains in the range.
References
- ^ Holmes, Ruth Bradley, and Smith, Betty Sharp. 1976. ᏔᎵᏍᎪ ᎦᎵᏉᎩ ᏗᏕᎵᏆᏍᏙᏗ ᏣᎳᎩ
ᏗᎪᏪᎵ / Beginning Cherokee. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, p. 291.
Bender, Margaret. 2002. Signs of Cherokee Culture: Sequoyah's Syllabary in Eastern Cherokee Life. Chapel Hill:University of
North Carolina Press.
External links
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