Cherokee Newspaper

Cherokee Phoenix
New Echota, Georgia,
June 18, 1828
Serial & Government
Publications Division (92A.6)

The Cherokee Phoenix was the first Native American tribal newspaper to be published in North America. Its editor, Elias Boudinott, along with tribal leaders of the Cherokee Nation intended to reach two different audiences: Cherokee nationals and white sympathizers who supported Cherokee autonomy. The newspaper, partially in English and Cherokee, uses the eighty-six-character syllabary devised by Sequoyah in 1821. This June 18, 1828 issue included the first census of the Cherokee Nation.