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Legendary Creator of the Cherokee Syllabary (Alphabet)



(Born between 1760 and 1776, Tennessee Mountains; Died in 1843, near Tyler, Texas)


Sequoyah is known as the only person in history to invent a written language without being literate in any language. In 1821, Sequoyah demonstrated his alphabet before Tsalagi leaders who were amazed and impressed by the accomplishment. It was quickly adopted as the official written language of the Tsalagi.

Bronze Sequoyah

Overview and Contributions:

Sequoyah, or Sequoia (both spellings were given by missionaries, but in Cherokee the name is closer to Sikwayi or Sogwali), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was the legendary creator of the Cherokee syllabary. He was the son of Nathaniel Gist, a Virginia fur trader, and Wut-teh, daughter of a Cherokee chief. After Sequoyah had been crippled by a hunting accident in 1809, he became interested in developing an alphabet, or table of characters, for the eighty-six syllables in the Cherokee language. By 1821 his task was completed and approved by the Cherokee chiefs. The results: In a short time thousands of his people learned to read and write.


The influence of Sequoyah’s work on the Cherokee Nation’s efforts to develop a culture more in keeping with European standards was significant. His syllabary helped the Cherokee overcome the limitations of a strictly oral culture and establish a constitutional basis for their government. Without Sequoyah’s work, of course, the Cherokee’s newspaper would have been impossible, and the efforts of missionaries to convert them to Christianity would have lagged.


Humble Beginnings of a Great Man:

Sequoyah was born about 1776* to a Native American woman named Wut-teh and an obscure white trader named Nathaniel Gist. After Nathaniel Gist abandoned his family soon after his child’s birth, Sequoyah and his mother lived alone in the foothills of the Great Smokies near the sacred town of Echota in what is now Tennessee. As he grew older, Sequoyah showed artistic and mechanical skill that would help him with what, early on, became his life’s task. In his solitude, Sequoyah had found plenty of time to contemplate some of the things that were to him a teasing mystery. The most important of these was the European’s ability to put thoughts upon paper and understand them.

*Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian Nation and; additional sources vary and reflect 1760 - 1776


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


The Foundations of Cherokee Literacy:

Around 1809 Sequoyah began work to create a system of writing for the Cherokee language. This work took Sequoyah 12 years to complete. Sequoyah refused to share the belief of some of his people that written speech was a gift of the Great Spirit. He boldly declared it to be a mere ingenious thing almost anyone could master with sufficient effort. The young man soon focused his effort and talents toward creating a way for his people to communicate over distance and time, as well as preserve their wisdom, history, and culture for future generations. Sequoyah sought at first to make a character for each word, but in a year he had thousands of characters, that even he could not decipher. Finally, he began attempting to develop an alphabet based on syllables in the language—a system in which single letters would stand for syllables. By 1820 he had determined that there were 86 syllables in the Cherokee language and that for his alphabet he would need a corresponding number of characters. To solve the problem of creating so many distinctive characters, Sequoyah adapted Roman letters, adding curls and dashes and turning them upside down.

A Convincing Demonstration:

A dozen years had gone into the work, and now he was ready to make his invention known to his people. The first scholar was his own daughter. In only a few days, she was able to read and write. In 1821, he and his daughter appeared before a gathering of the tribal heads. He sent his daughter away and out of earshot. Then he asked one of the principal men "to make a few sentences of talk." As it was spoken, Sequoyah "put it down on paper." Then he called his daughter, and she read it back to the group. Soon the entire nation was reading and writing Cherokee. The demand for pen and paper skyrocketed among the Cherokee, and letters sped from the East to the West where a small band of 1,000 had moved in 1817. A translation of the New Testament using the new syllabary was completed in 1825, and in 1827 the Council of the Cherokee Nation formally resolved to establish a national newspaper "in the mother tongue." Two years earlier the Legislative Council of the Cherokee Nation had presented Sequoyah with a medal as a token of respect and admiration for his ingenuity. In 1917 the State of Oklahoma presented to the United States a statue of Sequoyah, placed in the Hall of Statuary in the National Capital. Today a large wooden statue in his honor stands in Cherokee.

Cherokee Alphabet
Cherokee Alphabet.gif
Who invented or created the Cherokee Alphabet? Sequoyah.

Sequoyah's namesake:
The name of the district where Sequoyah lived in Oklahoma was changed to Sequoyah District in 1851. When Oklahoma was admitted to the union in 1907, as the 46th state, that area became known as Sequoyah County.
The Sequoia tree, named shortly after his death, is thought to be named for him.
The proposed State of Sequoyah was named in his honor.
Sequoyah High School (Oklahoma) is a Native American boarding school named after the creator of the Cherokee syllabary.
Sequoyah High School (Tennessee) is a public high school in Madisonville, Tennessee named after him. 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 him.
Mount Sequoyah in Fayetteville, Arkansas, was named in honor of him after the city donated the top of East Mountain to the Methodist Assembly for a retreat.
The Sequoyah Hills neighborhood of Knoxville, Tennessee, bears his name.
The Tennessee Valley Authority Sequoyah Nuclear Generating Station bears his name.
The Sequoyah Marina on Norris Lake which is impounded by Norris Dam, the first hydro-electric dam in Tennessee built by the Tennessee Valley Authority, was named in honor of Sequoyah.
The Sequoyah Elementary School in Russellville, Arkansas, bears his name.
The USS Sequoia was a long-time yacht used by American Presidents (now privately owned).
The Sequoyah Birthplace Museum "strives to promote the understanding and appreciation of the history and culture of the Cherokee Indians in Eastern Tennessee, particularly the life and contributions of Sequoyah."
Sequoyah Caverns and Ellis Homestead is a set of cavern systems in Valley Head, Alabama, named after him.
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.

(Sources and related reading listed at bottom of page)


How about reading, writing, and speaking in Cherokee? Then also purchase its companion, Beginning Cherokee (332 pages) (University of Oklahoma Press). While there have been other attempts to write language instruction in Cherokee; all others are too complex. "Beginning Cherokee is the very best for both 'spoken and written Cherokee!'"

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Related Reading:

Recommended Reading: Sequoyah: Inventor of Written Cherokee, by Roberta Basel. Description: The United States was growing at a rapid pace. For the settlers who were pushing west to the frontier and the Native Americans who were protecting their lands, life was filled with danger and difficulties. People who wove their way into history overcame their challenges with a courage that defined an era and shaped a nation. Sequoyah, a Cherokee Indian, is best known for inventing a system of writing for the Cherokee language. Continued below...
In 1821, after more than a decade of work, he succeeded in creating a set of symbols to represent the sounds of spoken Cherokee. The new written language was easy to learn and helped boost ethnic pride. Sequoyah won the respect of his people and was soon operating as a delegate in Cherokee dealings with the United States. He died in 1843 on a mission to unify the Cherokee people.

Recommended Reading: Sequoyah, by Robert J. Conley (217 pages) (Hardcover). Description: Sequoyah is arguably the single most significant and important figure in the history of the Cherokee people. Born in the late 18th century, Sequoyah's life was marked by the major conflicts and events of his time. From the expulsion and massacres, to the Indian wars fought at the side of Andrews Jackson, to the treaty violations and removals to the reservations, Sequoyah was a revered leader of the Cherokee. Continued below…

But as important as he was to the unfolding events of history, Sequoyah is best remembered for his singular contribution to the Cherokee culture and language. Sequoyah produced the first syllabary for Cherokee, through which their history, tradition, and cultured was recorded and preserved. Robert J. Conley is one of the most acclaimed writers of the American West and of his own peopled, the Cherokee, having won myriad fans with his moving historical novels about the Real People.In Sequoyah, he brings to vivid life one of the single most significant figures in the Cherokee people- a man who fought for his people's survival with both actions and words, and triumphed using ideas. About the Author: Robert J. Conley is the author of nearly forty novels, including his much praised "Real People" novels about the Cherokee. Three-time winner of the Spur Award as well as a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award, among many other honors, Conley is Cherokee and lives in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.







Winner 11th Annual Colorado Book Award, Collections and Anthologies


Selected by Booklist as Editors Choice Reference Source, 2002
















Sources: Official Website of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Nation; Museum of the Cherokee Indian; The New Georgia Encyclopedia; Cherokee Phoenix; Manataka American Indian Council; Cherokee Heritage Trails Guidebook;; 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.); Library of Congress.

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