Last week I wrote about Alse Young, the first woman in the to be executed for witchcraft in the American Colonies. The subject of this week's Musing was also accused of witchcraft, read on to discover how he fared.

A Celebrated Member of the Cherokee Nation

Many of the details concerning Sequoyah's early life are contradictory or unknown, but what is known is that he was one of the most influential members of the Cherokee Nation, and one of the few people in human history who has created a written language from scratch. 

Sequoyah was born around the year 1770, in what was at that time considered the Cherokee Nation, what is now known as land straddling the boundaries of the states of Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. He was raised by his mother and only spoke his native tongue, Cherokee. He was a man of many talents, a silversmith, blacksmith, and a trader who had his own store.

The Cherokee were a preliterate culture, but Sequoyah realized the advantages that having a written language offered. He understood that the letters, books and documents he saw written in the English language, allowed people to communicate without talking over long distances, and set about creating these "talking leaves" for his own people. In the early 1800s he started what would take him over a decade to complete, a new written language.

Sequoyah had several false starts with his attempts to create a written Cherokee language.  At first, he thought he would use pictures or symbols as a replacement for whole words or ideas, a logographic system of language, something the likes of Egyptian hieroglyphics, or Chinese logogram characters.

Sequoyah taught his young daughter, Ayokeh, this new way to communicate.  Soon word got around that Sequoyah had created Cherokee "talking leaves". Many were distrustful of the new language believing it to be bad magic, and he and his daughter were accused of witchcraft by his own people. They were brought to trial before the town chief, where they were first separated, then asked to exchange messages in the written script to see how it worked.  "...in the end, the warriors presiding over the trial determined that Sequoyah had indeed found a way to represent talking on paper, and asked him to teach them how to read." (National Geographic website)

The First Native Language Newspaper

In 1825 the Cherokee Nation officially adopted the new writing system, and by 1828 they were publishing the Cherokee Phoenix, the first newspaper published by Native Americans in a Native Language. The newspaper was bilingual as it was written in both English and Cherokee.  The Cherokee population became overwhelmingly literate, and used their new written language as a way to resist relocation. Ultimately however, they were forcibly removed in 1831.

Still in Use Today

In the 21st century, Sequoyah’s Cherokee syllabary is still used by the three Cherokee tribal nations, in official government documents, books, newspapers and school curriculum. Cherokee is the co-official language alongside English, and is visible on street signs and buildings across the Cherokee Nation presently located in northeastern Oklahoma.

If you would like to explore Sequoyah’s legacy further, visit the word list page of the Cherokee Nation's website where you can type in over 7000 English words to read and hear their counterparts in the Cherokee language.

Sources used for this Musing are listed below.

-Architect of the Capitol website

-Cherokee Nation website, accessed November 4, 2022.

-Cherokee Phoenix, online newspaper website, www.cherokeephoenix.org

-Keene, Adrienne, Notable Native People, Ten Speed Press/Random House, New York, 2021

-Sequoyah and the Creation of the Cherokee Syllabary, National Geographic website, accessed November 4, 2022.

We have had an extremely successful second season in Nowashe Village this year, and tomorrow, November 5, 2022, will be the last open day for the general public to visit. In celebration of Native American Heritage Month we will be offering FREE admission tomorrow from 11am to 4pm. Donations are always welcomed.

We will however, continue to offer personalized group tours and school programs in the off season, through our Nowashe on the Go programming. Please contact Education Director, Liz Glaviano for more information.

More details about upcoming Native American programming, exhibits, and artists, can always be found on the  available on our Nowashe Website.

Celebrate Native American Heritage

November 5, 2022
11am to 4 pm

Portraits in RED: A Painting Project Honoring
Missing and Murdered Indigenous People
Final Day
November 5, 2022
11am to 4 pm

A Native American Winter with Dr. Lucianne Lavin
November 12, 2022

1:00 to 2:30 pm

Please forward this email to anyone who might be interested.