Sequoyah

1. Sequoyah By Justine Fontes Powerpoint by Abbie, Elly, Kali, Brittany, Collin, and Grant

2. Young Sequoyah • There was this girl named Wuh-teh and she gave birth to a boy named Sequoyah. • Wuh-teh lived with her son and no husband in Taskigi, in the Smokey Mountains. • Sequoyah had to play with his friends and it involvedrunning, throwing, and shooting with arrows. • Americans brought guns and books to Sequoyah.

3. The Native Americans and settlers signed treaties and the treaties were called talking leaves. • Sequoyah worried because he didn’t know what to do with the treaty promises because they could just be gone someday. • He moved to a farm in Georgia to be a silver smith.

4. One day someone came in and asked Sequoyah to sign the tool he made. • Sequoyah went to a Cherokee chief to learn his name in English.

5. Sequoyah`s Gift • Sequoyah wanted his wife to work at a new job. • Sequoyah joined the U.S. army and he saw how useful writing could be. • Sequoyah returned from the army and found that his wife burned all of his writings. • Sequoyah knew that it would take a long time for everyone to learn his language.

6. Seqouyah saw that his daughter found that work is important. • After 12 long years Sequoyah finally finished the Sequoyan alphabet. • Seqouyah knew that his people were in danger. • Sequoyah hoped his alphabet might help his people communicate with other people.

7. The Tribal Council • Many people believe that Ayoka used her father’s alphabet to write what the chief said. • Sequoyah read what Ayoka had written. • Sequoyah taught Cherokee towns how to read and write. • The Cherokee nation taught other people how to read and write.

8. Scholars study letters to learn how the Cherokee lived. • In 1823 the Cherokee now would have proper laws. • Sequoyah moved to Arkansas where he did mining and sold salt.

9. Oklahoma • The U.S. government gave unsettled land in Oklahoma to the Cherokee people. They were to move to the new territory. • Sequoyah didn’t want that to happen so he went to Washington to stop it from happening. • That year the first Native American newspaper was published called, The Cherokee Phoenix. Now the Cherokee nation had a way to express their thoughts and ideas.

10. The next year Congress passed the Indian Removal Act and the Cherokee people had to settle in Oklahoma. • Sequoyah and his family moved to Oklahoma. • In 1838, the army was sent to move the rest of the Cherokee people to Oklahoma. The trip was dangerous and 4,000 Cherokee people died along the way. This trial became known as the “Trail of Tears”.

11. Once they were in Oklahoma, the Cherokee started public schools, printed books, and wrote their own constitution. Sequoyah’s alphabet that he wrote helped to save the Cherokee’s culture and way of life.