The Cherokee Phoenix

The Cherokee linguist Sequoyah is credited with developing a system for writing the Cherokee language, an accomplishment that had previously eluded more educated missionaries.

This system is called a syllabary because it uses symbols that represent syllables rather than letters.

Although some of the symbols in Sequoyah's syllabary resemble letters in the English alphabet, they often do not share the same sounds.

For example, the English word "water" appears in this image at the middle of the bottom row. The Cherokee translation above seems to begin with the English letter "D." However, that symbol is actually pronounced like "ah."

Elias Boudinot is best known as the editor of the Cherokee Phoenix bilingual newspaper. Born in northwest Georgia around 1804, Boudinot was the eldest of nine children born to Cherokee parents. He was formally educated in missionary schools, including a Foreign Mission school in Connecticut.

Boudinot was especially gifted at raising funds for the development of the Cherokee Nation and was so successful that by the 1820s, the Cherokees were able to purchase a printing press for their newspaper.

In May 1826, while touring the country to raise funds for a Cherokee printing office, Elias Boudinot addressed an audience at the First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

Boudinot highlighted "progress" made by the Cherokee Nation and emphasized the similarities between the Cherokees and the mainly white audience.

The print shop at New Echota was the home of the Cherokee Phoenix, the first newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States, and the first newspaper to be printed in the Cherokee language.

The Cherokee Phoenix was initially written in English then translated into Cherokee using the syllabary developed by Sequoyah.

Printed between 1828 and 1834, the paper featured news from the Cherokee Nation and the wider world as well as official documents, advertisements, and editorials about such topics as religion and temperance.

Converting script to print is a challenging process. Recent evidence suggests that the Cherokee National Council, along with support from Sequoyah, developed the actual print type used in the Cherokee Phoenix and only asked Samuel Worcester for help with ordering materials.

The ability of the Cherokees to publish their own newspaper was touted as a mark of sophistication and progress in the "arts of civilized life."

However, the paper updated its name in 1829 to the Cherokee Phoenix and Indians' Advocate as focus shifted toward the forced removal of the Cherokee people from their homeland.

In addition to the Cherokee Phoenix, publishers also printed Cherokee translations of the book Poor Sarah and the New Testament of the Bible.