Sequoyah (a.k.a George Gist)

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Sequoyah (a.k.a George Gist)

• Inventor of the Cherokee Alphabet

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Sequoyah

• Born near Tuskeegee, Tennesee in 1776
• Died near Tyler, Texas in 1843
• His mother was the daughter of a Cherokee chief
  and his father was a Virginia fur trader named
  Nathaniel Gist.

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Fleeing Tennessee

• Sequoyah fled Tennessee because of the
  encroachment of whites as a youth.
• He moved to Georgia where he became a
  silversmith.

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How it all began

• While Sequoyah was working as a silversmith, a
  man asked him to sign his work, as the white
  silversmiths had done.
• Sequoyah, however, did not know how to write his
  name.
• This sent him to Charles Hicks, a wealthy farmer,
  to teach him how to write his name.

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The beginning of a new language

• Hicks showed Sequoyah how spell his name by
  writing the letters on a piece of paper.
• In 1809 Sequoyah began developing the idea of a
  Cherokee writing system.

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Cherokee War

• Then he moved to Willstown, Alabama and joined
  the Cherokee Regiment in a battle against the
  Creeks.
• This battle became known as the Battle of
  Horseshoe Bend.
• During this battle, Sequoyah realized the
  importance of a writing system because the
  Cherokees were unable to communicate with their
  families during the war.

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Characteristics of the writing system

• Sequoyah used a phonetic system, where each sound
  made in speech was represented by a symbol.
• He called it Talking Leaves, 85 letters that
  make-up the Cherokee syllabary

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Implementation of the Cherokee Syllabary

• Sequoyah went before the council to propose his
  new syllabary.
• After the completion of the syllabary in 1821, it
  was rapidly adopted by many Cherokees.
• Within two years many Cherokees had learned the
  syllabary and it made it possible for them to
  print books and newspapers in their language.

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Life after developing the syllabary

• After Sequoyah developed the Cherokee syllabary,
  he went into politics.
• He was elected as a Cherokee delegate to the
  United States government in Washington, D.C.
• In 1824, the National Council at New Echota
  struck a silver medal in Sequoyahs honor.

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Sequoyahs Impact

• The impact made by Sequoyahs development of the
  Cherokee alphabet can be seen throughout the
  Cherokee history.
• It made it possible for them to document their
  experiences and increase their communications
  between each other.

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Resources

• http//ngeorgia.com/ang/Sequoyah(a.k.a_George_Gist
  )
• http//www.harcourtschool.com/activity/biographies
  /sequoyah/
• http//www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp
  ?idh-618hly