by Sadegh Tavakoli and Hossein Sohrevardi
“The Trail of Tears,” the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from their ancestral lands east of the Mississippi to the Indian Territories in present day Oklahoma, is remembered as one
by Sadegh Tavakoli and Hossein Sohrevardi
“The Trail of Tears,” the forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from their ancestral lands east of the Mississippi to the Indian Territories in present day Oklahoma, is remembered as one of the darkest chapters in American history. Although this incident is most closely associated with the Cherokee, it has also come to more general refer to a period of history of forced expulsion of Southeastern and Northeastern Native American tribes after the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. To better understand what lead up specifically, to the death of 4,000 Cherokee Indians in the winter of1838-9 one must look at the dynamics and historical interaction between European (and later white American) with the Native Americans.
The history of Native Americans during the “founding” and development of America is the oldest and darkest stain upon this country. The Europeans discovery of America and the subsequent colonization of this continent came at the expense of millions of natives in this land. From its very inception, the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean in 1492 and the enslavement of native islanders for presentation before Queen Isabella of Spain foreshadowed the centuries of violence and injustice to come. There are scattered incidents of peaceful, positive coexistence such as the famed “First Thanksgiving,” although some of the reports about that incident seem to be exaggerated. Unfortunately, injustice against Native Americans has been a recurring theme throughout American history, one that is being redressed even today as can be seen by a recent court settlement between the US government and three hundred thousand Native Americans.
Prior to the American Revolution, the British Proclamation of 1763 prevented colonial expans