This link is currently under construction


For the Online Catalog use one of the four workstations near the Circulation Desk
or click on the "Spectrum Patrons CAT" icon on the desktop.

You can now access the Bessie Chin Library online public-access catalog (Sequoyah) from the computers in the library. Just click on the desktop icon which says "Spectrum Patrons' CAT." This is the first step in building a Web-accessible catalog. For right now learn more about the Cherokee Indian, Sequoyah, in honor of whom the redwood tree was named.

Sequoyah: Inventor of the Cherokee Alphabet

    As the mighty California sequoia trees rise out of the forest, so Sequoyah, the Cherokee Indian for whom the trees are named, rose out of his people to make his mark. Sequoyah developed an 86-letter alphabet for reading and writing the Cherokee language.
    In the past, when Indians of different tribes assembled, they spoke in sign language because they could not understand each other's spoken language. With Sequoyah's alphabet, learning to speak Cherokee became possible. Cherokee is an Iroquois language that was spoken in Tennessee, Georgia, and other southern regions. Cherokee is also related to Mohawk, Oneida, and Seneca-Cayuga languages.
    To create his alphabet, Sequoyah borrowed symbols from English grammar books and created other symbols as needed. Probably born around 1760, he would have been about 21 years old when he created this alphabet.
    Interested in the general advancement of his people, Sequoyah went to Washington, D.C., in 1828, as a representative of western tribes. The Cherokee were a highly civilized tribe who had built roads, schools, and their own system of representational government when Sequoyah lived. Becoming farmers and cattle ranchers, the Cherokee were nonetheless labeled as "savages," and targeted for removal from their lands in 1835, under President Jackson. This removal is referred to as the infamous "Trail of Tears."
    Sequoyah died in 1843. The portrait of him shown here is from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Here are some links to Web sites about this famous Native American.
 

Sequoyah - http://www.chota.com/cherokee/sequoyah.html
From the Cherokee Publishing Company
Sequoyah: A Closer Look - http://www.americanparknetwork.com/parkinfo/sm/history/sequoyah.html
From the American Park network
Sequoyah (Sequoya) ca. 1770-1843 - http://www.aoc.gov/art/nshpages/sequoya.htm
From the National Statuary Hall site. A photograph of the statue of Sequoyah in the nation's capitol.
Sequoyah - http://www.npg.si.edu/col/native/
This shows a painting of Sequoyah in the National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C.).
Sequoyah (aka George Gist) - http://www.rosecity.net/cherokee/sequoyah_pitter.html
From Pitter's Cherokee Trails
Talking Leaves and the Cherokee Phoenix - http://ngeorgia.com/history/alphabet.html
From the North Georgia.com site
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