Sequoyah native american biography books

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.

1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native American polymath and neographer of the Cherokee Nation.

In 1821, 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 1825,^[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 100%, surpassing that of surrounding European-Americansettlers.^[4]

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