In his book "Tell Them They Lie", Traveler Bird presents arguments for the antiquity of the Cherokee writing system. The author claims to be a direct descendent of Sequoyah. The story he tells of the origins of the Cherokee's ability to write their own language and Sequoyah's role in bringing universal literacy to his people differs greatly from what is taught in the history books.

One assertion made by Traveler Bird, which is supported by other evidence, is that the original form of the syllabary was modified by white missionaries to allow the easier creation of typeset. Many of the original free-form symbols were replaced by letters taken from the English alphabet. Below are renderings of the two sets of symbols. Unfortunately, Traveler Bird did not provide a key to match the symbols in the two sets.

Reference: "Tell Them They Lie" by Traveler Bird. 1971, Westernlore Publishers, Los Angeles.

Typset Cherokee Syllabary as modified by the Rev. Samuel A. Worcester

(Cherokee characters in bold, followed by English sound equivalence)

Chart comparing Cursive Form of Syllabary, attributed to Sequoyah, to typeset form

(Cursive on left, typeset on right)

Original in Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, OK