|
Exhibit Guide
Home Exhibits Introduction Founding Generation Founding Documents You Be the Judge Defining Freedom The Struggle Continues Faces of Freedom Marketplace of Ideas Censorship: What Is It? Musical Hit List Draw the Line Resources Museum Map Glossary |
 Faces of Freedom> Sequoyah
Sequoyah began to develop his interest in a written language for the Cherokee while serving in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812. Sequoyah and many other Cherokee soldiers could not do things such as read military orders, keep journals, or write letters home the way that white soldiers did. After the war, he began experimenting with an alphabet. It took Sequoyah twelve years to finish the alphabet and in 1821 the Cherokee Tribal Council adopted it. In 1825, it became the official language of Cherokee nation. Having a written language led to numerous religious texts, educational materials, and legal documents translated into Cherokee. The first Native-American newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, was published on February 21, 1828. The weekly newspaper was written in both Cherokee and English, publishing the nation’s laws and documents, news, editorials and letters from readers. Sequoyah also served as a diplomat, traveling to Washington D.C. to negotiate land treaties on behalf of western Cherokees in 1828. He and other delegates wanted protection from white settlers who were stealing cattle and horses and trespassing on their land. They also wanted money promised to them for moving to Arkansas. Sequoyah and the delegation ended up signing another treaty which pushed them further west into Oklahoma, which the government claimed would be protected territory for Native-Americans. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act which forced remaining eastern Native-American tribes to move west of the Mississippi River. The forced removal of the Cherokees from the southeastern U.S. began in 1838. Once the eastern and western Cherokees were in Oklahoma, the issue of governing the new nation arose. Sequoyah served as the president of the western Cherokees in these meetings. He was one of the signers of the Cherokee Nation’s constitution in 1839. Native American rights Although Native-Americans have the same rights guaranteed in the Constitution, they are also members of self-governing tribes. This tribal sovereignty is recognized through treaties with the U.S. government which allow them to have their own governing bodies and constitutions, with the power to pass and regulate laws within their tribal territories. Tribal governments are recognized as independent governments -- which work with but are not under – state or federal government. Because of this arrangement, the federal government and individual tribes often clash over which group has sovereignty on issues such as taxes, gaming operations and natural resource interests. A Free Press for All The first Native-American newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, which was published in 1828 became a powerful information source and voice for the eastern Cherokees living in Georgia as they were confronted with pressure from white settlers and the U.S. government to leave their land in the late 1820s. The Cherokee Phoenix still exists today and is among hundreds of ethnic news media outlets in the country. For millions of immigrants and ethnic-Americans, the ethnic news media provides information on important issues in their local communities as well as the U.S. and world. The ethnic news media performs an important role because it presents the news in a language that readers feel comfortable with and understand. Regardless of debates over establishing a national language, the ethnic news media illustrates an active free press at work in the U.S. back to Faces of Freedom |
Sequoyah Birthplace Museum Sequoyah Birthplace Museum Sequoyah Research Center University of Arkansas Little Rock What Happened on the Trail of Tears? National Park Service Elias Boudinot’s editorials in the Cherokee Phoenix Cerritos College Native American Educational and Cultural Center Purdue University Primary source: Senator Frelinghuysen on Indian Removal Uintah Basin Teaching American History Project Lesson plan: American Indian Reservation Controversies Library of Congress Lesson plan: Indian Boarding Schools Library of Congress |
