Lieber Leser: dies ist ein kurzer Ausschnitt aus meiner Facharbeit, die ich 1996 fertiggestellt habe. Dieser soll nur einen kurzen Einblick in die zivilisatorischen Errungenschaften der Indianer des Südostens sein.

This alphabet was invented by a half blood Cherokee named Sequoyah or George Gist (app. 1770-1843). His mother was a full blooded Cherokee who moved westwards to Alabama with him when the majority of the Cherokee had decided to accept the white man’s way of life. He learned everything about the Cherokee way of life but he never learned how to read or write. In the Cherokee’s opinion his father probably was the famous soldier Nathaniel Gist, but definitely he was a German trader.
It is very admirable that a man unable to read and write managed to create an alphabet. He was‘’the only man in the history of mankind to invent a complete alphabet, without being able to read and write any other language’’. (from: Underwood,T.B.; page 25)
According to one story he got the motivation to develop a Cherokee alphabet when  ‘’he and his friends fell into a discussion about writing, after having heard the bible translated at a white man’s house. ‘’ (from: Underwood,TB; page25).
At that moment he conceived the idea that someday the Cherokee would have their own alphabet and would be able to write letters, books, newspapers and much more. After a hunting accident which left him crippled, he spent his time trying to realise his idea. Therefore many of his friends called him insane, and his wife did not like his ‘hobby’, too.
He worked for many years trying to find symbols for every word and then for every sentence he knew. But in the end he realised that his work was futile, because there were so many words and sentences in the Cherokee language. After years of trying he found a newspaper with Latin letters on it. This somehow sparked a brainwave, and from then on he concentrated on the syllables of the words, using both Latin letters and letters he invented himself - one letter per syllable and 85 syllables altogether - to develop the alphabet. In the year 1821 he showed his alphabet to his friends, and after initial scepticism the whole nation wanted to learn to read and write. His alphabet was so simple and well-developed that ‘’some of the quicker ones learned to read and write in three or four days.’’ (from: Underwood,T.B.; page 28).
In the year 1824, when nearly all Cherokee, both young and old, were able to use Sequoyah’s alphabet, the Cherokee National Council recognised the greatness of Sequoyah’s invention and honoured him with a medal. His alphabet gave the Cherokee Nation high self-esteem along with the ability to write down their thoughts and laws in their own language. This ability gave them the possibility to translate books, as they did the Bible in 1825. This was not all the Cherokee achieved. At the end of 1827 they buyed a printing press and then on February the 21, 1828 they published their own newspaper, called the ‘Cherokee Phoenix’ (later they published the ‘Cherokee Advocate’), which was written half in English and half in Cherokee. Sequoyah then travelled to the Western Cherokee to teach them the alphabet, so that they were able to write to their sisters and brothers in the East. He ensured that both groups maintained contact during the years of separation. After the ‘Trail of Tears’ he (together with Head chief John Ross) helped to reunite the traditionalists and progressive. In my opinion Sequoyah without doubt was the greatest Cherokee who ever lived, and when he died in the year 1843, after having found the ‘lost tribe‘, the whole nation mourned.