Sequoyah, American Alphabet Maker

As we celebrate Freedom we want to remember an American alphabet maker.

He fought on the side of the United States in the war of 1812. Fellow soldiers could write letters home, read military orders, and record events, but he and his Cherokee friends could not.
After the war Sequoyah spent 12 years perfecting the set of symbols that would represent the sounds of his own Cherokee language. Not knowing the sounds which the Roman alphabet represented, many of the letters that you and I know received new “assignments” -- whole syllable sounds in fact.!

There weren’t enough letters in the Roman alphabet to cover all the sounds, so Sequoyah invented more letters to complete the set of 85 symbols. His daughter Ayoka learned to use the symbols and soon thousands of Cherokee Indians became literate.

Unfortunately the Cherokee occupied a vast amount of land in the Southeast that the whites wanted for themselves. “The Trail of Tears” is an appropriate name for the arduous journey they were forced to make westward, resulting in separation from family members, sickness and death. You would think this could have ended Cherokee culture, but the Cherokee found ways to adapt and even prosper.

Many names are mentioned in connection with the translation of the Bible into Cherokee. One interesting note is that John 3 was the first portion of the Bible translated into the Cherokee language in 1824 by a native Cherokee, At-see (also known as John Arch). This paved the way for the American Bible Society edition in 1960. The church ministered to the Indians at the end of the trail of tears. Cherokee Bibles have helped preserve the language.

So the next time you read a letter, e-mail, a text message, or your Bible, give thanks for the freedom to read in your own language. Praise the Lord that the Cherokee have had this opportunity for 150 years.

Join us in Praying for the people groups of the world still waiting for God’s Word in their heart language.