Trail of Tears
Cherokee death march
The Trail of Tears was the forced relocation of Native American nations from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States to territories west of the Mississippi River during the 1830s.
Thousands of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole people died from disease, exposure, and starvation during the marches.
The term now evokes any forced displacement marked by suffering and death.
Indigenous Southeastern nation
- ChoctawSoutheastern Native American nation
- ChickasawMuskogean-speaking Native nation
- SeminoleFlorida indigenous nation
- Indian Removal ActLaw authorizing tribal expulsion
Andrew Jackson · 1830s · forced march · death march · Oklahoma · Indian Territory · ancestral lands · treaties
Total fatalities counted
- starvationExtreme nutritional deprivation
- exposureState of being unprotected
- diseaseDisorder impairing normal function
- hardshipSuffering from difficult circumstances
grief · trauma · loss · mourning · survival · endurance · privation · exhaustion
Systematic annihilation of a people
- ethnic cleansingSystematic removal of populations
- dispossessionDeprival of property rights
- land theftIllegal taking of property
- colonialismDomination through foreign settlement
broken treaties · racism · oppression · persecution · human rights · exploitation · discrimination · manifest destiny
Act of honoring memory
- remembranceAct of holding something in mind
- educationSystematic development of mind
- descendantsThose who come after
- Cherokee NationFederally recognized indigenous government
tribal sovereignty · healing · reconciliation · oral history · anniversary · museum · monument · awareness
Cherokee
Indigenous Southeastern nation
- ChoctawSoutheastern Native American nation
- ChickasawMuskogean-speaking Native nation
- SeminoleFlorida indigenous nation
Indian Removal Act · Andrew Jackson · 1830s · forced march · death march · Oklahoma · Indian Territory · ancestral lands · treaties · broken promises
death toll
Total fatalities counted
- starvationExtreme nutritional deprivation
- exposureState of being unprotected
- diseaseDisorder impairing normal function
hardship · grief · trauma · loss · mourning · survival · endurance · privation · exhaustion · cold
genocide
Systematic annihilation of a people
- ethnic cleansingSystematic removal of populations
- dispossessionDeprival of property rights
- land theftIllegal taking of property
colonialism · broken treaties · racism · oppression · persecution · human rights · exploitation · discrimination · manifest destiny · assimilation policy
commemoration
Act of honoring memory
- remembranceAct of holding something in mind
- educationSystematic development of mind
- descendantsThose who come after
Cherokee Nation · tribal sovereignty · healing · reconciliation · oral history · anniversary · museum · monument · awareness · generational trauma
- CherokeeCherokee Nation, Cherokee syllabary, Sequoyah, clan mothers, stickball
- Cherokee HomelandCherokee Nation, tribal lands, ancestral territory, reservations, Indian Territory
- Indigenous Historycolonization, reservations, tribal nations, residential schools, boarding schools
- Southern HistoryDeep South, Antebellum, Old South, Dixie, Confederate
- Missouri ParksLake of the Ozarks, Mastodon, Montauk, Pershing, Stockton
- Ozarks HistoryOsage Nation, frontier settlement, frontier settlers, German settlers, bushwhackers
Trail of Tearstribal sovereignty
Indigenous peoples' governmental independence
Trail of Tearstruth and reconciliation
Post-conflict healing through acknowledgment
reparations · restorative justice · healing ceremony · repatriation · amends
trail, tears, trailer, trailing, trails, trailed, trailblazer, trailblazing, trailblazers