Sequoyah-the illiterate who created an alphabet.
Created | Updated Dec 23, 2003
Sequoyah or Sequoya or Sequoia. A tree, a Toyota SUV, a national park, and, once, a man.
Some people knew him as George Guess or Gist. Others knew him as that fellow with the club foot.
He was born of a white father, Nathaniel Gist, and a Cherokee mother, Wurteh, daughter of Moytoy and Great Eagle, in 1760 or so. The whites never thought much of him. They bought the efforts of his silversmithing and they taught him to put his mark on the bottom of his work. They used him as a soldier when they wanted to put down an 'unfriendly' tribe. They taught him that there was something missing in his people's culture.
The Cherokee today regard him as a hero of their people, but there was a time when the Cherokee elders had asked a tribal guard officer to cut off the ends of his fingers for being in league with the devil. What was George doing? He was making signs on pieces of bark and paper and the ground and making sounds, over and over again. Talking to himself. Talking to strangers, asking strange questions.
Listening carefully to what people said.
They thought he was conjuring.
He was.
For over ten years he struggled with a magic almost beyond his comprehension, with an alchemy that few philosophers have tackled and invisible barriers that would daunt any man smart enough to sense them.
What was he doing?
He was creating an alphabet. A mode of communication. A literature. A signpost of civilization. A means to elevate a nation.
Anyone who spoke Cherokee with any fluency could learn to read and write in two weeks. First he taught one of his young daughters. Within six months, all the Cherokee could read and there was a newspaper with an international subscription list.
Now, a linguist would tell you that what he created was not a true alphabet, but a syllabary, because he linked symbols to syllables, while a true alphabet is the tools out of which syllables and vowels and consonants can be produced. Never mind that. George Sequoyah Guess was not a trained linguist, although some accounts say he spoke six languages. He was a hero. He called it 'The Talking Leaves'.
He had two wives, U-ti-Yu Wok-tee-Yah Langley, and Sallie Waters. He had eight children, Nancy, Teesey, Richard, Polly, Ooo-Loo-Tsa, Gu-U-Ne-Ki, E-ya-Gu, and George, Jr.
He died in what was then Mexico and is now Texas in l843, having lived over eighty years. Long enough to see his fame spread and his people scattered.
Some people knew him as George Guess or Gist. Others knew him as that fellow with the club foot.
He was born of a white father, Nathaniel Gist, and a Cherokee mother, Wurteh, daughter of Moytoy and Great Eagle, in 1760 or so. The whites never thought much of him. They bought the efforts of his silversmithing and they taught him to put his mark on the bottom of his work. They used him as a soldier when they wanted to put down an 'unfriendly' tribe. They taught him that there was something missing in his people's culture.
The Cherokee today regard him as a hero of their people, but there was a time when the Cherokee elders had asked a tribal guard officer to cut off the ends of his fingers for being in league with the devil. What was George doing? He was making signs on pieces of bark and paper and the ground and making sounds, over and over again. Talking to himself. Talking to strangers, asking strange questions.
Listening carefully to what people said.
They thought he was conjuring.
He was.
For over ten years he struggled with a magic almost beyond his comprehension, with an alchemy that few philosophers have tackled and invisible barriers that would daunt any man smart enough to sense them.
What was he doing?
He was creating an alphabet. A mode of communication. A literature. A signpost of civilization. A means to elevate a nation.
Anyone who spoke Cherokee with any fluency could learn to read and write in two weeks. First he taught one of his young daughters. Within six months, all the Cherokee could read and there was a newspaper with an international subscription list.
Now, a linguist would tell you that what he created was not a true alphabet, but a syllabary, because he linked symbols to syllables, while a true alphabet is the tools out of which syllables and vowels and consonants can be produced. Never mind that. George Sequoyah Guess was not a trained linguist, although some accounts say he spoke six languages. He was a hero. He called it 'The Talking Leaves'.
He had two wives, U-ti-Yu Wok-tee-Yah Langley, and Sallie Waters. He had eight children, Nancy, Teesey, Richard, Polly, Ooo-Loo-Tsa, Gu-U-Ne-Ki, E-ya-Gu, and George, Jr.
He died in what was then Mexico and is now Texas in l843, having lived over eighty years. Long enough to see his fame spread and his people scattered.
