April R. Summitt - Sequoyah and the Invention of the Cherokee Alphabet

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When someone thinks of famous Native American figures in history, several names come to mindPocahontas, Squanto, Sitting Bull, and Crazy Horse to name a few. Another name perhaps less familiar but still recognizable is Sequoyah. The story of this Cherokee man who invented a writing system for his native language is filled with myth and legend. Documents do exist proving he lived, invented, and taught his syllabary to his fellow Cherokee during the years just before and after the removal of the Cherokee to the west along the Trail of Tears. There is also plenty of evidence that his writing system was used extensively among Cherokee speakers during the 19th century and that it is still taught today in Cherokee schools. Few people now speak the language or write it with Sequoyahs syllabary, but efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries to revitalize native languages have increased its usage. Road signs and other markers in Cherokee country, both east and west, use the syllabary and celebrate its native origin. Syllabary charts are prominently displayed in classrooms and on bulletin boards and illustrate how to use it.

There is, however, much that will never be known about the life of the man who invented this unique type of writing system. Sequoyah did not leave behind letters, memoirs, or other important pieces of evidence. They may have existed, and some still claim to have documents written by Sequoyah, but their authenticity is impossible to prove. What one can know about his life is brief but surrounded by a colorful and often dramatic story of his people during a traumatic time in their history. In order to understand both the man and his amazing contribution to Cherokee culture, one must learn a little of the history of the entire nation. The story in this volume is partly a biography but also an overview of Cherokee history and a discussion of Cherokee culture, specifically in relationship to language.

In order to understand why it was important that the Cherokee have a system of writing, one must recognize the role stories played and still play in the culture. Wrapped up in the many stories handed down over the years from elder to child are the names of places and people in the Cherokee past that taught successive generations a unique worldview or ethos. The Cherokee stories created mental maps that were told, not drawn. They were, in the words of scholar Mark Warhus, fluid pictures of a dynamic landscape, a geography in which experience shapes the past and present of the land (Warhus 1997, 3). One way to examine this geography is to look at Cherokee stories and place names.

Many scholars have already done this task. Some stories tell of origins or explain natural phenomena. Others teach morals and good relationships with others, including the relationships between people and the animal, plant, and spirit worlds. Others are meant to amuse and entertain, or perhaps even frighten and mystify. Still, behind all these valid interpretations of Cherokee stories are the places in which they occur. These places are important parts of the stories themselves; a mapping for the Cherokee cosmos. Seeing these stories as places helps one develop a deeper understanding of how the Cherokee related to their natural environment as well as their neighbors. Cherokee stories and place names create these maps with lines that can be seen as paths, connections, and even boundaries.

All of these stories were just one of the important aspects of Cherokee culture that could be better preserved through a written language. Another part is what is called medicine. Within the Cherokee nation, the Paint clan was most often the medicine men, who prescribed various ceremonies and rituals to address any number of illnesses or important events. Once Sequoyah completed his syllabary, medicine men recorded their formulas for everything from healing diseases to attracting a spouse. Writing their formulas down meant they could better preserve and pass along their spiritual knowledge to the next generation.

Another benefit of Sequoyahs syllabary for medicine men was the ability to keep the formulas secret from non-Cherokee speakers. One of the best sources for Cherokee medicine formulas comes from the work of anthropologist James Mooney, who recorded many of them in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The original manuscripts he collected are now housed in the archives of the Smithsonian Institution and examples are included in the documents section of this book. Through these manuscripts, scholars have been able to study and preserve elements of the old Cherokee culture and modern Cherokee medicine men still rely on some of these recorded formulas and stories.

While Sequoyah probably did not intend it, his invention also helped promote the creation of a new Cherokee government in 1827 patterned after the United States. In that year, the nation voted for a constitution that is very similar to the U.S. Constitution but altered to meet the needs of the Cherokee. Some traditionalists saw the change in government and the constitution as evidence of assimilation and colonization. Most stories of Sequoyah paint him as one of these traditionalists. However, others saw the government as evidence that the Cherokee did not need assimilation, that they were a civilized and sovereign nation. The new constitution and the debate surrounding subsequent elections became accessible to all members of the Cherokee nation through the printing of the first native newspaper, the bilingual Cherokee Phoenix. Both those comfortable with English and those who only spoke Cherokee could now participate in the democratic process, thanks to Sequoyah.

In this volume, the reader will find an introduction to Cherokee culture through stories, a biographical narrative of Sequoyahs life, and an overview of Cherokee history and use of the syllabary from the early 19th century to the present. It is important here to clarify the difference between an alphabet and a syllabary. An alphabet uses a symbol to represent each separate sound or phoneme in a language. In contrast, a syllabary uses symbols to represent an entire syllable of a word. Several languages have used syllabaries, such as ancient Mycenaean Greek, an African language called Vai, and an ancient Chinese dialect, among others. In the case of the Vai language used in Liberia, scholars have argued that missionaries there in the 1830s used Sequoyahs syllabary as a model for developing their own (Tuchscherer and Hair 2002).

Another clarification of terms is important, that of Native American or American Indian. Although the former version is often considered the most politically correct in this modern age, native peoples in North America mostly prefer