Native American News Media

Development

The Cherokee Phoenix remains among the largest and best known of the tribal papers. It was founded in New Echota, Georgia, in 1828, at a time when the federal government was working hard to expel all Native people from the eastern part of the country. The founding editor of the Phoenix, Elias Boudinot (1800–39), launched the newspaper by raising funds during a speaking tour of New England. He delivered rousing oratories to church groups and other organizations, urging them to support the creation of a tribal newspaper that would allow the Cherokee nation to demonstrate its ability to function in an increasingly information-oriented world.

The creation of the newspaper also was made possible through the efforts and vision of Sequoyah, the man who invented the Cherokee syllabary (a form of writing that uses one symbol per syllable, as opposed to alphabets that use one symbol per sound). Sequoyah (ca. 1776–1843)—also known as George Guess, Guest, or Gist—had noted the advantages that a system of writing gave to the white settlers and soldiers in Georgia, and he worked to develop a method of capturing the oral Cherokee language on paper. He tried several approaches before developing a syllabary that is simple and easy to learn. Within months of its invention, the percentage of Cherokee people who could read began to rise, and growing literacy made the creation of a newspaper feasible.

The Phoenix was founded initially to fight federal efforts to force the Cherokee off their land in Georgia. Over time, however, Boudinot became convinced that the removal of the Cherokee Nation to Oklahoma was inevitable, and he began to argue that a smooth and peaceful relocation offered the best hope for the future of the nation. That change of position incensed many members of the Cherokee nation and its government, and amid the clamor, Boudinot submitted his resignation from the [Page 932]Phoenix on August 11, 1832. He eventually moved to Oklahoma to build a new life for the Cherokee, but many people considered him at least partly responsible for the disastrous Trail of Tears; in that slow, undersupplied march from Georgia to the area now known as Oklahoma, 4,000 Cherokee died and thousands more suffered horrific misery. Boudinot was stabbed to death in 1839. Back at New Echota, the newspaper was destroyed by the Georgia Guard.

The Cherokee revived the Phoenix once they were settled in Oklahoma. The paper has been forced to suspend publication at times since then, and it has gone through a few name changes before returning to the original—but it survives to this day. Previously a quarterly publication, it is now published monthly in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, and boasts a circulation of 67,000 in Oklahoma and 106,000 worldwide.

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