> Have any of your ever read "Tell Them They Lie; The Myth of
> Sequoyah" by Traveler Bird? If you have and know anything about the
> circumstances under which it was written... particularly the primary
> source materials for the book, I would really appreciate a message to
> that effect.
>
> For those who have not read it, Bird describes the current image of
> the Cherokee statesman "Sequoyah" as a political myth: That the
> historical image of him as a mixed-blood who used the english
> alphabet to design a written language is nothing more than an
> eloquent lie to cover the truth.
>
> The truth? She argues that Sequoyah was a full-blood, the last of a
> clan that kept the history of the Cherokee in written form... writing
> that existed prior to Anglo contact. The image of sequoyah itself,
> she argues is a lie. Sequoyah had the tips of his nose, ears, and
> fingers cut off by soldiers as punishment for writing.
I had a student last year tell me the same story. I couldn't fathom what
they were talking about, but they must have been refering to that book.
The Cherokee Museum in Cherokee N.C. has an excellent library. And thier
resource persons are most helpful.
Address is hwy 141, Cherokee, NC
Betsy
The OSU