The Dawn of the Script of the Cherokees

“The illiterate Cherokee known as Sequoyah watched in awe as white settlers made marks on paper, convinced that these ‘talking leaves’ were the source of white power and success. This inspired the consuming ambition of his life: to create a Cherokee written language”.

I found this article in The New York Times. I think it is completely fascinating and exciting to think about the creation of an alphabet and therefore the creation of language. In the picture you can see on the right, the syllabary devised by the illiterate Indian in the 1800s. And above, characters found in a Kentucky cave which may be the earliest examples of the Cherokee script.