"On February 21, 1828, the first Native American newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix, began publication. Editor Elias Boudinot explained the paper’s purpose—to promote anything that will be to “the benefit of the Cherokees” and to prevent the tribe from “dwindl[ing] into oblivion.” Boudinot concluded his opening editorial by declaring his hope “for that happy period, when all the Indian tribes of America shall arise, Phoenix like, from their ashes.”

The newspaper was part of the cultural movement called the Cherokee Renaissance that included the writing of a tribal constitution and Sequoyah’s development of a Cherokee syllabary, or written form of the tribe’s language. The tribal government had authorized publication of an official tribal newspaper in 1826, and page one of the first edition reproduced in full the Cherokee constitution. The paper published articles in both English and Cherokee."

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Cherokee Phoenix begins publication (OUP Blog 2/21)