Cherokee Nation opens 2-part exhibit on Cherokee language evolution cherokeephoenix.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cherokeephoenix.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
TAHLEQUAH – The progression, adaptation and endurance of the Cherokee language is being presented in a special exhibit debuting May 11 at two historic locations in downtown Tahlequah.
Cherokee Nation debuts two-part exhibit on Cherokee language evolution - The Cherokee One Feather theonefeather.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theonefeather.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Elias Boudinot
TAHLEQUAH â After Sequoyah invented the Cherokee syllabary in the early 1800s, his written language was used primarily for Christian instruction, but tribal leaders saw the syllabary could also be used to inform Cherokee people via a newspaper.
âTo obtain a correct and complete knowledge of these people, there must exist a vehicle of Indian intelligence, altogether different from those which have heretofore been employed,â Elias Boudinot, the Cherokee Phoenixâs first editor, said.
The 23-year-old planned to print the news and other matters important to Cherokee people in columns of Cherokee and English. A 30-foot-by-20-foot news office was established in the new Cherokee capital at New Echota, Georgia
TAHLEQUAH â On Feb. 21, 1828, the first issue of the Cherokee Phoenix was published in New Echota, Georgia. It was the first Native American newspaper in the country and was printed in both English and Cherokee utilizing Sequoyahâs syllabary.Â
Editor Elias Boudinot gave the paper the name Cherokee Phoenix after the phoenix bird of Egyptian mythology that consumes itself in fire every 500 years and is reborn from the ashes. Boudinot had learned about the phoenix during his education in Cornwall, Connecticut. Over time, the name has proven to be fitting as the Cherokee Phoenix has been reborn numerous times.
Boudinot raised money to start the paper with help from his brother, Stand Watie; cousin, John Ridge; and Elijah Hicks, who were all tribal leaders at that time. As popularity of the Phoenix increased among Cherokee people, Boudinot noticed other tribes were facing similar issues, so he requested a name change to the Cherokee Phoenix and Indian Advo