About Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate. [volume] (New Echota [Ga.]) 1829-1834
New Echota [Ga.] (1829-1834)

Cherokee Phoenix and Cherokee Phoenix, and Indians' Advocate

On October 15, 1825, the General Council of the Cherokee Nation commissioned Elias Boudinott (née Galagina [the Buck] Oowatie, a Cherokee) to procure two sets of type, English and Cherokee, for a printing press. With the publication of the first issue of the Cherokee Phoenix (Tsalagi Tsu-le-hi-sa-nu-hi) on February 21, 1828, at New Echota, Georgia, the Cherokee Nation became the first Native American tribe with a newspaper. The weekly newspaper used the 86- character Cherokee syllabary developed by the Cherokee Sequoyah in 1821. As the prospectus stated, the newspaper was printed "partly with English, and partly with Cherokee print; and all matter which is common interest will be given in both languages in parallel columns." Included were printed tribal laws, official notices, news articles, prayers, and historical descriptions in Cherokee and English. The Cherokee Phoenix was published during a time of increasing tensions between the Cherokee Nation and the United States, tensions that were exacerbated by the discovery of gold in the Cherokee lands in the state of Georgia. Articles on the land dispute between the Cherokee Nation and Georgia and on Cherokee relations with the United States were prominent. Editorials and reports from tribal representatives, commenting on statements and legislation proposed by politicians outside the Nation, appeared regularly.

Elias Boudinott, a seminary-educated Cherokee, was its first editor. Through the newspaper, Boudinott and tribal leaders of the Cherokee nation intended to reach two different audiences: Cherokee nationals and white sympathizers who supported Cherokee autonomy. Sympathizers were cultivated by exchanging newspaper issues with many American and European newspapers, which reprinted Phoenix articles. On February 11, 1829, Boudinott changed the title to the Cherokee phoenix, and Indians' advocate to reflect its dual roles of reporting news of interest to the Cherokee Nation and promoting Cherokee sovereignty to English-speaking readers. Boudinott resigned from his editorial position in the spring of 1832, when he disagreed with the General Council's continued opposition to removal, which he considered to be inevitable. Elijah Hicks, the brother-in-law of Principal Chief John Ross, was appointed editor September 1832. Poor finances and lack of resources led to increasingly erratic publishing, and the final issue was published May 31, 1834. Although the Cherokee Nation General Council planned to revive the paper in 1835, the presses were seized by the Georgia Guard. A newspaper did not reappear in the Cherokee Nation until the Cherokee Advocate began publishing on September 26, 1844, in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.

Provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC