The Cherokee Bible, one of the language’s first books, is a window between worldviews

Cherokees across the US are working to revitalize their language.

By: Margaret Bender, Wake Forest University and Tom Belt, Western Carolina University, The Conversation

Outlets: The Conversation

Published: May 12, 2026

Words: 1,238

Last Updated: 2 months, 2 weeks ago

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By Margaret Bender, Wake Forest University and Tom Belt, Western Carolina University

If you wanted to learn the Cherokee language in the 1990s, there weren’t many written resources: three dissertations from the 1970s and ’80s, one textbook and a handful of college classes in North Carolina and Oklahoma. Even on most Cherokee land, it was unusual to see street or building signs in this endangered Indigenous language.

There are nearly 500,000 enrolled members in the three …

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