Auto biography of sequayah

Sequoyah is widely celebrated as an unlettered Cherokee Indian who, entirely from the resources of his own brilliant mind, endowed his whole tribe with learning-the only man in history to conceive and perfect in its entirety an alphabet or syllabary.

Soon after , Sequoyah began to realize the magic of writing. He and other Indians of the time, who occasionally saw samples of writing, called these mysterious pages the vit man's "talking leaf." He experimented aimlessly at first, but gradually his conception took practical shape. It was slow and laborious work for an untutored Cherokee.

Finally, after twelve years of labor and discouragement, he completed his syllabary, composed of eighty-five symbols, each representing a sound in the Cherokee language. The simplicity of the syllabary and its easy adaptability to the speech and thought of his people enabled them to master it in a few days. The Cherokee nation was made practically literate within a few months.

Description

*Includes pictures
*Explains how the syllabary works and its influences
*Includes footnotes and a bibliography for further reading

Tragically, the Cherokee is one of America&#;s best known tribes due to the trials and tribulations they suffered by being forcibly moved west along the &#;Trail of Tears,&#; but that overlooks the contributions they made to American society well before the 19th century. The Cherokee began the process of assimilation into European America very early, even before the establishment of the Unites States, and by the early 19th century they were one of the &#;Five Civilized Tribes.&#; Despite all of the hostilities and the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee ultimately became the first people of non-European descent to become U.S. citizens en masse, and today the Cherokee Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United States, boasting over , members.

The Cherokee might

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Sequoyah

Cherokee polymath and creator of the Cherokee syllabary

For other uses, see Sequoyah (disambiguation).

Sequoyah (sə-QUOY-yə; Cherokee: ᏍᏏᏉᏯ, Ssiquoya,^[a] or ᏎᏉᏯ, Sequoya,^[b]pronounced[seɡʷoja]; c. – August ), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native American polymath and neographer of the Cherokee Nation.

In , Sequoyah completed his Cherokee syllabary, enabling reading and writing in the Cherokee language. One of the first North American Indigenous groups to gain a written language, the Cherokee Nation officially adopted the syllabary in ,^[2] helping to unify a forcibly divided nation with new ways of communication and a sense of independence.^[3] Within a quarter-century, the Cherokee Nation had reached a literacy rate of almost %, surpassing that of surrounding European-Americansettlers.^[4]

Sequoyah's creation of the Cherokee syllabary is among the few times in recorded history tha