playbill vip

TRAIL OF TEARS 

In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which required the tribes in today’s southeastern United States to give up their lands in exchange for federal territory located west of the Mississippi River. Most tribes fiercely resisted this policy, but eventually the Choctaws, Muscogee Creeks, Seminoles, and Chickasaws agreed to be relocated to Indian Territory in present day Oklahoma. The forced removal of the Cherokee began in 1838. U.S. Army troops and militia forcibly evicted more than 16,000 Cherokee people from their homelands in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia.

An estimated 4,000 Cherokee, especially the old, the young, and the infirm, died during the 800 mile journey. Harsh weather, poor food supplies, and illness affected the travelers. The tragic relocation finished in 1839. The surviving Cherokee proved resilient. They reconstructed their lives and rebuilt their nation. This is a story of racial injustice, intolerance, and suffering, but it is also one of tenacity and survival.

The Nashville Pike served as one of the primary routes of the Trail of Tears through Murfreesboro and middle Tennessee. The Appalachian Mountains in eastern Tennessee and North Carolina were home and hunting grounds to countless generations of Cherokee people before they were forcibly removed.

About a thousand Cherokee in Tennessee and North Carolina escaped the roundup. They gained recognition in 1866, establishing their tribal government in 1868 in Cherokee, North Carolina. Today, they are known as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

To learn more and watch a film about the Trail of Tears visit: https://www.nps.gov/trte/learn/photosmultimedia/dvd.htm