Cherokee Nation

Imagine a family with roots as deep as the oldest trees in the forest. I am not a building or a place on a map, but a feeling of belonging, like stories told around a warm fire on a cool night. My family has lived for thousands of years in the beautiful green mountains and woods of the American Southeast. We walked the same paths our grandparents and their grandparents walked. In our own language, we call ourselves the Aniyvwiya, which means the 'Principal People,' because we have always been here. You might know me by another name, a name that is strong and proud. Hello, I am the Cherokee Nation, and I am the story of my people.

My people are smart and full of wonderful ideas. One of the most brilliant was a man named Sequoyah. He saw how other people could send messages on paper, and he wanted his people to do the same. So, around the year 1821, he invented a special alphabet just for our language. It wasn't like the ABCs you know; it was a syllabary, where each symbol stood for a whole sound. It was amazing. For the first time, my people could write down our ancient stories and our laws. We even started our own newspaper, called the Cherokee Phoenix, on February 21st, 1828. We had our own government and schools. But a very sad time came. In the year 1838, the U.S. government made my people leave our homes. We had to walk for many months on a long, hard journey. We call it the Trail of Tears because so much was lost. But we never lost our spirit.

After that terrible journey, my people did not give up. We found a new home in a place now called Oklahoma. In the year 1839, we built a new capital city called Tahlequah and started to build our lives again. We made new laws and opened new schools. Today, I am a strong and modern nation. My people are doctors, teachers, artists, and leaders. We work hard to keep our culture alive for our children. We speak our language, celebrate our special holidays, and take care of each other just like we always have. My story is about being resilient, which means bouncing back even when things are very hard. I show the world that a community’s heart is strong and can shine brightly forever.