Indian Removal Policy (1820-1850)
When White settlers wanted to take the lands on which Indigenous peoples lived, the U.S. government helped the Whites seize or steal the land by forcing entire Indigenous tribes to move hundreds or thousands of miles from their homelands. The government used the military to force Indigenous peoples into enormous camps, and then to travel great distances. During the time when Removal was the government’s main Indigenous policy, European Americans forced five tribes in the Southeastern U.S. to travel approximately a thousand miles and resettle in Oklahoma Territory, a countryside with which they were unfamiliar. This was during a time before cars or trains. The tribal members travelled by walking and carrying their belongings.
Watch: Trail of Tears (cherokeehistorical.org)
Watch: How the Brutal Trail of Tears Got Its Name
Brutal Trail of Tears:
The Indian Removal Act of 1830 resulted in the forced relocation of over 15,000 Cherokee people–a third of whom died during the journey to Oklahoma.
Read online: https://lsintspl3.wgbh.org/en-us/lesson/midlit11-soc-splcher/9
Watch from 13:25 through 15:22 – Cherokee Tribe History
Cherokee Tribe History:
The Cherokee are a Native American people with a language belonging to the Iroquoian language group. They were considered one of the “Five Civilized Tribes” in the American Southeast due to their adoption of some cultural and technological practices of European settlers. They developed their own writing system.