Sequoyah

The Cherokee writing system Sequoyah created, and why it mattered.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 29

Sequoyah was a Cherokee man who lived long ago. He was a silversmith, who made jewelry and tools from silver.
He saw settlers reading marks on paper. He called them talking leaves! But the Cherokee language had no way to be written, so Sequoyah decided to make one.
First he tried a picture for every word, but there were far too many. Then he made a symbol for each sound, or syllable, in Cherokee: 86 in all.
This word says Tsalagi. That's how you say Cherokee in Cherokee! Some symbols look like our letters, but they stand for different sounds.
It took about 12 years of patient work. He taught his daughter, Ayoka, to read first, and together they showed the Cherokee leaders. In 1821, the Cherokee Nation accepted it.
It was so easy to learn that thousands of Cherokee people learned to read and write in just a few years! Soon they printed the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper at New Echota, in north Georgia.
Sequoyah was patient and determined. People still read and write Cherokee with his symbols today!

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:

SS2H1.b — Sequoyah (development of a Cherokee alphabet)
SS2G2.a — Identify specific locations significant to the life and times of each historic figure, and the Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee, on a political or physical map.