Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah, Oklahoma Location inside Cherokee County and the state of Oklahoma Location inside Cherokee County and the state of Oklahoma Tahlequah, Oklahoma is positioned in the US Tahlequah, Oklahoma - Tahlequah, Oklahoma State Oklahoma County Cherokee Cherokee Nation established 1838; second capital town/city Tahlequah (/ t l kw / tal- -kwah; Cherokee: ) is a town/city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, United States positioned at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains.
It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as part of the new settlement in Indian Territory after the Cherokee Native Americans were forced west from the American Southeast on the Trail of Tears.
It is the governmental center of county of Cherokee County. The chief campus of Northeastern State University is positioned in the city.
Tahlequah is the capital of the two federally recognized Cherokee tribes based in Oklahoma, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the undivided Cherokee Nation.
1.2 Cherokee Nation capital Cherokee stop sign with Cherokee language transliteration and the Cherokee syllabary in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, with "alehwisdiha" (also spelled "halehwisda") meaning "stop" Cherokee traffic sign in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, reading "tla adi yigi", meaning "no parking" from "tla" meaning "no" Many linguists believe the word 'Tahlequah' (Tah-le-quah) and the word 'Teh-li-co' are the same as 'di li gwa,' the Cherokee word for grain or rice.
(See Cherokee Nation Lexicon (dikaneisdi) at cherokee.org under culture/language).
Scholars report the Cherokee word 'di li gwa' describes a type of native grain with a red hue that interval in the flat open areas of east Tennessee.
Others interpret a word 'tel-i-quah' as 'plains;' however, there is no word for 'plains' in the Cherokee lexicon, and the word 'tel-i-quah' is not found in the lexicon.
The idea that 'tahlequah' means 'plains' lends weight to the belief that the name refers to the wide open grassy areas of Great Tellico.
Another explanation is the name Tahlequah came from the Cherokee words Ta-li (meaning two) and Ye-li-quu (enough).
The story goes that when the Cherokee came to Tahlequah there were supposed to be 3 different Chiefs at the meeting.
When the Cherokee first appeared in the Tahlequah area, they noticed the native grasses that interval in the open areas around the foothills of the Ozark Mountains.
Local legend states the name is derived from Cherokee words meaning 'just two' or 'two is enough.' Supposedly three tribal elders had prepared to meet to determine the locale of the Cherokee Nation's permanent capital.
According to tribal elders and Cherokee County elders, this legend first began to circulate in the 1930s.
After the Western Cherokee agreed in 1834 to let the newer migrants settle near them, they joined their government with the Eastern Cherokee at Tahlequah in 1839.
Tahlequah was titled long before it was chosen as the Cherokee capital.
Cherokee Nation capital In 1839, Tahlequah was designated the capital of ancestors of both the Cherokee Nation and the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians.
Most of these buildings were finished amid the Civil War, amid which the Cherokee became divided into two bitterly opposing sides.
In 1907, at the time of Oklahoma statehood, the building was converted into the Cherokee County courthouse.
It was returned to the Cherokee Nation in 1970. Several markers of Cherokee and Native American tradition are found in town: street signs and company signs are noted in both the Cherokee language and English.
Such signs use the syllabary created by Sequoyah, a Cherokee scholar of the 1820s who created the writing system.
The Cherokee Supreme Court Building, positioned in downtown Tahlequah and constructed in 1844, is the earliest enhance building in Oklahoma. Tahlequah is positioned at 35 54 55 N 94 58 12 W (35.9153700, -94.9699560). The town/city has a total region of 12.45 square miles (32.2 km ), all land. Many citizens in Tahlequah speak Cherokee, and there is a Cherokee language immersion school in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, that educates students from pre-school through eighth undertaking with the Cherokee language as the medium of instruction, and no English. Oklahoma Cherokee language immersion school student writing in the Cherokee syllabary.
Adams Corner Cherokee language chalk board in schoolhouse.
Education inside the Tahlequah town/city limits consists of one early learning center serving students in Pre-K: Sequoyah; three elementary schools serving students in Kindergarten through 4th grade: Greenwood, Cherokee, and Heritage; one middle school with grades 5 through 8: Tahlequah Middle School; and one high school with grades 9-12: Tahlequah High School.
Tahlequah High School serves as the chief high school inside the county as well and is fed by other non-urban Pre-K through 8th undertaking schools inside Cherokee County.
The Cherokee language immersion school in Tahlequah, Oklahoma educates students from pre-school through eighth grade. Because Oklahoma's official language is English, Cherokee immersion students are hindered when taking state-mandated tests because they have little competence in English. The Department of Education of Oklahoma said that in 2012 state tests: 11% of the school's sixth-graders showed proficiency in math, and 25% showed proficiency in reading; 31% of the seventh-graders showed proficiency in math, and 87% showed proficiency in reading; 50% of the eighth-graders showed proficiency in math, and 78% showed proficiency in reading. The Oklahoma Department of Education listed the charter school as a Targeted Intervention school, meaning the school was identified as a low-performing school but has not so that it was a Priority School. Ultimately, the school made a C, or a 2.33 undertaking point average on the state's A-F report card system. The report card shows the school getting an F in mathematics achievement and mathematics growth, a C in civil studies achievement, a D in reading achievement, and an A in reading expansion and student attendance. "The C we made is tremendous," said school principal Holly Davis, "here is no English instruction in our school's younger grades, and we gave them this test in English." She said she had anticipated the low undertaking because it was the school's first year as a state-funded charter school, and many students had difficulty with English. Eighth graders who graduate from the Tahlequah immersion school are fluent speakers of the language, and they usually go on to attend Sequoyah High School where classes are taught in both English and Cherokee.
Tahlequah is home to Northeastern State University.
Northeastern State University is the earliest institution of higher learning in the state of Oklahoma as well as one of the earliest establishments of higher learning west of the Mississippi River. Tahlequah is home to the capital of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and about 25 percent of the students at NSU identify themselves as American Indian. The college has many courses concentrated on Native American linguistics, and offers Cherokee language Education as a major. Cherokee can be studied as a second language, and some classes are taught in Cherokee for first language speakers as well. Bill John Baker, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Wilma Mankiller, first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Chad "Corntassel" Smith, author, lawyer, and former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation Tahlequah was once titled as the fictional "home office" for the Top Ten Lists on Late Night with David Letterman.
Tahlequah is mentioned a several times in Mark Twain's 1892 novel The American Claimant as the origin of a bank robber titled One-Armed Pete.
Comptemporary Cherokee Language Book.
"Enumeration of Population and Housing".
"Cherokee Nation places three historical buildings in trust", Tulsa World, 28 June 2003 United States Enumeration Bureau.
"Cherokee Immersion School Strives to Save Tribal Language".
"NSU, Cherokee Nation Partner to Train and Hire Language Instructors - ICTMN.com".
City of Tahlequah Cherokee Nation United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians Tahlequah information, photos and videos on Travel - OK.com, official travel and tourism website for the State of Oklahoma Municipalities and communities of Cherokee County, Oklahoma, United States
Categories:
Cities in Cherokee County, Oklahoma - Cities in Oklahoma - Cherokee suburbs in Oklahoma - County seats in Oklahoma - Former colonial and territorial capitals in the United States - Micropolitan areas of Oklahoma - Cherokee Nation (1794 1907)Cherokee Nation - Populated places established in 1839 - United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians - Tahlequah, Oklahoma - 1839 establishments in Indian Territory - University suburbs in the United States
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