people were learning their language. Their written language which consists of 85 characters, was said to be created by a Sequoia (1760-1843) , a Cherokee leader. Sequoia translated the Bible, wrote many books, and helped publish the newspaper,"The Cherokee Phoenix." This was contradicted in Dialogue-Everyman's Encyclopedia Story #1989130. It said the man who created the 85 character written language was George Guess. The Cherokee Phoenix was published in both languages-English and the Cherokees'. The Cherokee had mixed blood from the early British settlers and traders. Therefore, the Cherokee were educated in both languages. For over half a century the Cherokee have abstained from becoming American Citizens until 1906 when the Unites States made all tribal members U.S. Citizens. A year later the Indian Territory was admitted into the Union as the state of Oklahoma. During this period many Cherokee started breaking away and mixing their blood. In 1930 forty- five thousand two hundred thirty-eight Cherokee left Oklahoma and headed East from where they came. The Cherokee started slowly changing their religion. There are many who are Jewish, Episcopalian, and Hindu. The 10,000 Cherokee that survived the Trail of Tears and the other Cherokee that were not taken for the removal slowly gained back in population in a century. The Tahlequah Agency in Oklahoma has said there were 42,992 Cherokee living in Tahlequah in 1982. The U.S. Census has shown 293,074 Cherokee are living in more than 30 states in the United States. Now the Cherokee Nation is under control of the first woman chief. In November 1983 Wilma Mankiller was elected to the office of the Cherokee Nation. The Cherokee survived the hardships of the Trail of Tears and the loss of their loved ones and all that belonged to them. Their population continues to grow inspite of the immense number of tribal members that were lost during this era....
