Starting Over When Your Work Gets Trashed

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I love the story of Sequoyah. He was the first man in the history of the world known to have invented a writing system in his native language. Sequoyah’s native language was Cherokee. Sometimes people call his invention an alphabet, but it is actually a syllabary. Instead of each symbol representing a single sound, as in an alphabet, each symbol represents a syllable in the Cherokee language.

While fighting under General Andrew Jackson, Sequoyah noticed that white soldiers could read orders, keep journals, and write letters home to their families. The Cherokee soldiers couldn’t do that because they didn’t have a written language. Sequoyah  worked for over a decade to change that.

In 1821 Sequoyah and his daughter demonstrated his writing system to Cherokee elders. The elders decided to adopt the system. In a short time, thousands of Cherokee learned to read and write in Cherokee.

Samuel Worcester was a missionary at the Brainerd Mission in what was then Ross’ Landing and is now Chattanooga, Tennessee. He used the new syllabary to translate much of the Bible into the Cherokee language. He set up a print shop and began the Cherokee Phoenix. It was America’s first newspaper in a native language.

I continue to work on the timeline portion of our new curriculum. Yesterday I tried to figure out in what order to place two events that both happened in 1821. One was Missouri becoming a state. That happened in August. The other event was when Sequoyah presented his syllabary to the Cherokee elders. What time of year that happened eluded me. No matter where I searched, I couldn’t find out.

Finally I decided to call the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in little Vonore, Tennessee. I was delighted to get to talk to a man named Charlie who works there. He has been learning about Sequoyah for eighteen years. He could tell me details about Sequoyah’s life, but he didn’t know the time of year Sequoyah talked to the elders about his syllabary. I didn’t get my exact date, but I did get some fascinating information.

Charlie told me that Sequoyah’s fellow Cherokee thought he was lazy because he was working on his writing system. They thought his work was witchcraft. Charlie confirmed a story that I have heard. Sequoyah’s wife was so scared of what he was doing that she threw his work into the fire. Undaunted, he continued.

Charlie told me that one reason the Cherokee were wary of the syllabary is that they believed that if the Creator wanted them to have writing, He would have already given it to them.

Many Cherokee became Christians in the early 1800s. While looking for information about Sequoyah yesterday, I learned that the Cherokee Nation published a new translation of the New Testament in 2015. It is in the Cherokee language and syllabary with the words of Jesus in red. Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker said this about the translation:

This represents a big step forward in our Cherokee cultural revitalization, because the New Testament is the most read and sought after publication in the world, and now more Cherokee nation citizens can share it in our own tribal language. *

Keeping on keeping on when the people around you think you are nuts . . . . Starting over when your works gets trashed . . . . As homeschooling mamas, I imagine you can identify with both of those situations. For Sequoyah it was worth it. As you know, it’s worth it for you, too. Just think how many people have been able to read the Bible in his or her own language because Sequoyah kept on keeping on.

. . . we also exult in our tribulations,
knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance;
and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope;
and hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts
through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:3-5

*http://www.cherokee.org/News/Stories/20151208_Cherokee-Nation-publishes-its-first-red-letter-New-Testament-in-the-Cherokee-language

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