Learn about the story of Sequoyah, a Cherokee man who developed an alphabet for the Cherokee language in 1821, in this video segment adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: “We Shall Remain.” Like most Native American groups at the time, the Cherokees did not have a written language. Sequoyah’s alphabet helped preserve the Cherokee language and Cherokee culture, especially after the Cherokees were forced to leave their native land by the 1830 Indian Removal Act.