[Spoken Cherokee] Run, it's after us. [Spoken Cherokee] Come back! [Spoken Cherokee] Hurry, it's going to get you. [Spoken Cherokee] Hurry! [Spoken Cherokee] What's the hurry? [Spoken Cherokee] He said there was a panther in the woods. [Spoken Cherokee] No panther is out there. [Spoken Cherokee] And if he was, all you have to do [Spoken Cherokee] is growl like a bear and he will run away. [Spoken Cherokee] Go ahead! Growl. [Spoken Cherokee] Louder [growl] [Spoken Cherokee] Panther will run away for sure. [Spoken Cherokee] Maybe your name should be Growling Bear. [Spoken Cherokee] Did you hurt yourself? [Spoken Cherokee] It was some small thorns. [Spoken Cherokee] Let us put some medicine on it. [Spoken Cherokee] Better? 1828. In the southeast United States the Cherokee people had settled into a
stable life. They lived in cabins, farmed and spun cotton. They built schools and churches. They embraced many aspects of European life while living by their traditional ways. At one time the land of the Cherokee people
spanned what is now eight states in the southern
Appalachians. but from 1721 to 1819 the Cherokees relinquished much of their territory to the burgeoning United States reducing the size of the Cherokee Nation
by over ninety percent. During the 1700s, the
Cherokees endured devastating smallpox epidemics, and wars with the colonists. After the turn of the century, the Cherokee began to rebuild
and transform themselves. They would establish a formal government
with a police force and a court system. In 1827, the Cherokees wrote a constitution,
and the next year they held a national election. Unlike any
other North American tribe, the Cherokee people created their own
written alphabet invented by a man named Sequoyah. It was
so ingenious in its design Cherokees could learn it quickly. The
Cherokee people also published the first Indian newspaper, printed in English
and Cherokee. The Cherokees lived prosperous and productive lives, but their neighbors
in Georgia craved more land for their expanding
population. They viewed the Cherokee Nation its
government and people as a direct threat. Georgia did not have the
legal right to move the Cherokees themselves but that would change in 1828 with the
election of Andrew Jackson as President of the
United States. Regarding the Cherokees he said "Established in the midst of a superior race, they must disappear." Months after Jackson was elected the Georgia Legislature passed a series of laws taking away the civil rights of Cherokees
within their borders. Cherokees could not testify in court. They could not meet in Council. Their
government was deemed illegal. The editor of the Cherokee newspaper,
Elias Boudinot expressed their outrage. "Here is the secret, full license to our
oppressors in every avenue of justice closed to us. Yes, this is the bitter cup prepared for us." The Cherokee people had
little time to react before another troubling incident occurred. Gold had been discovered on Cherokee land. [Spoken Cherokee] What are they doing? [Spoken Cherokee] The are looking for gold.
We need to stay quiet. [Multiple people] "That's mine. I'm the one who found it." Word spread quickly, and people from all over the country
flooded into Cherokee land. If hunger for land or the fear of Cherokee sovereignty were not enough to
rouse every day Georgians against the Cherokee Nation, the lust for gold was. Within months, 4,000 white intruders were digging and panning
for gold. Georgia then moved into Cherokee country
with their own militia the Georgia Guard. They arrested Cherokees who dared to mine gold on Cherokee land. Then in 1829, southern Congressmen introduced the Indian Removal Act into
Congress. The bill called for the removal of all
five southern tribes the Cherokees, the Choctaws, the Creeks the Chickasaws, and the Seminoles to
territories west of the Mississippi. Citizen groups from all over the United
States sent hundreds of petitions to Congress
condemning the bill as immoral and destructive. [Spoken Cherokee] What is wrong? [Spoken Cherokee] Are soldiers really coming? [Spoken Cherokee] Who told you that? [Spoken Cherokee] Some boys said that soldiers [Spoken Cherokee] were going to take us away. [Spoken Cherokee] They can not do that. [Spoken Cherokee] Do not worry. In May of 1830 the Indian Removal Act passed in the
House by only five votes. Days later President Jackson signed it
into law. The bill stated that the United States
would not violate any prior treaty of any tribe. Chief John Ross and Cherokee leaders took steps to uphold their guaranteed rights. The Cherokee would now
fight removal by taking their case to the Supreme
Court the United States. It was a landmark case that was to define Indian sovereignty for centuries to come. Worcester versus the State of Georgia. In March of 1832 Chief Justice John Marshall delivered
the majority opinion. "The Cherokee Nation is a distinct
community occupying its own territories with
boundaries accurately described in which the laws of Georgia can have
no force." [Spoken Cherokee] "...and which the citizens of Georgia [Spoken Cherokee] have not the right to enter!" The decision was unequivocal. Georgia had no jurisdiction
over the land or the government of the Cherokee Nation. But in Washington, Andrew Jackson ignored
the Supreme Court's decision and continue to advocate removal. Jackson had told a Georgia Congressman, "Build the
fire under them. When it gets hot enough, they'll move. Seven months after the Supreme Court ruled that Cherokees were clear owners of their
land, Georgia held a lottery. The prize Cherokee land. Thousands signed up. In Cherokee country, lucky lottery winners were soon
collecting their winnings and moving Cherokees out of their homes. If Cherokees did not go voluntarily, the Georgia militia used force. [Shouting] Get outta here. Many Cherokee families found themselves homeless in their own country. Eager to move the Cherokees out, Georgia citizens intensified their harassment. Cherokee leaders sent a letter to the Federal Government pleading for protection. "The lowest classes of white people are flogging the Cherokees with cowhides, hickories, and clubs. We are not safe in our house." Cherokees faced a crisis that pushed
them to a breaking point. some Cherokee leaders saw their nation crumbling under the oppressive laws of Georgia and in a desperate effort to get the
best deal possible, negotiated a Removal Treaty. At New Echota in December 1835 this small group with of Cherokees signed a treaty. In their eyes they did
it to save their nation but with ninety percent of Cherokees
strongly opposed to removal they did it in violation of Cherokee Nation law. When the New Echota Treaty was
sent to the Senate for ratification the Cherokee people took action. A petition was signed by almost 90 percent of the Cherokee people. Hundreds of pages were sewn together. [Spoken Cherokee] My little Growling Bear. What are you doing? [Spoken Cherokee] Grandpa. This is a petition. [Spoken Cherokee] Almost everyone's name is here. [Spoken Cherokee] A petition? [Spoken Cherokee] Against the treaty. [Spoken Cherokee] You taught me. If we growl loud enough . . . [Growl] [Spoken Cherokee] I remember. [Spoken Cherokee] I will help you with this. The petition was taken to Congress by
Cherokee Chief John Ross. [Spoken Cherokee] Those papers we wrote three months ago, [Spoken Cherokee] they did not pass them. [Spoken Cherokee] They denied us. [Spoken Cherokee] Really? [Spoken Cherokee] The petitions were not honored. [Spoken Cherokee] I guess we were not that important to them. The Cherokee Nation had won their case in the Supreme Court. They had shown the Federal Government that the majority of their people did
not want to move, but it was not enough. The Senate ratified the New Echota treaty. Now the
Cherokees would be forced to leave. Two years later, in May 1838 6,000 federal and state militia troops entered Cherokee country. [music] On the 26th May, the roundup began [music] [Spoken Cherokee] Don't cry. It's going to turn out fine. Soldiers captured men, women, and children and marched them from their homes. Cherokees were held at nearby forts and then forced into large prison camps near river docks. Within weeks 16,000 Cherokees had been taken captive. [music and crowd noise] Lieutenant John Phelps assisted in the
round up. "I could not but think that some fearful retribution would come
upon us. The scenes seemed to me like a distempered dream or something worthy of the dark ages than present reality." Cherokees were to be
transported west on barges but after two detachments had left, drought rendered the river level too low. On the 3rd detachment soldiers marched over a thousand
Cherokees 200 miles downstream to waiting barges. It was hot! Before the
detachment reached the west 146 Cherokees had died. At the prison camps, the heat and the
drought postpone the march. At Fort Cass and Ross's Landing in
Tennessee the camps grew to hold as many
as 4,000 Cherokees each. Cherokees had no access to their
medicine or traditional food. Diseases broke out. The Cherokee Missionary Daniel Butrick visited the camps and offered assistance. "Half the infants six-months to a year, and all the aged over 60 have been
killed directly and one-fourth of the remainder.
There seems to be no place nor means nor time for the recovery of any who are now sick." [crying] Determine Cherokees refused to surrender
their lives, their nation, and their spirit to the
impending doom. At the Fort Cass prison camp, the
Cherokee council met. They passed a resolution affirming their
nation. [Spoken Cherokee] …the inherent sovereignty of the Cherokee Nation [Spoken Cherokee] together with the Constitution, [Spoken Cherokee] are hereby in full force. Chief John Ross then made a daring
request to General Winfield Scott. He asked that the Cherokees be allowed
to manage their own removal. Scott agreed. In late summer the first if 13 detachments departed the
prison camps under the management of
the Cherokee Nation. The last detachment left in December Wagons carried the sick and elderly. The weather turned bitter cold. It was to be the harshest winter in years. [wind, coughing, and sobbing] [music] [singing in Cherokee] The trail wound along dusty roads, over hills, through the bitter cold of
winter and discouraging relentless rain and
wind across Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas. In March 1839, the last detachment arrived in the new
territory. Although the march was over the
hardships continued. Setting up life in a strange land took its toll, and many more Cherokees
died during the first year. Most had marched
over 800 miles. These routes, one by water, carried twelve
to thirteen thousand Cherokees. Conservative estimates indicate
that at least 2,000 Cherokees died as a result removal. Yet, if their culture was to survive they had no choice but to start again. So, in 1838 the Cherokee people began the slow
process of reconstructing their entire society. For many other Indian tribes the Trail
of Tears reflects their story. An estimated 70,000 Indians, including
many other tribes all over the United States, were forced
from their homelands. Each endured devastating hardships. To ensure that this tragedy and the
events along this trail are not forgotten the United States Congress in 1987 passed a bill to establish the Trail of Tears
National Historic Trail. The National Park Service administers the protection, interpretation, and preservation of the trail. With several thousand miles of land and water routes visitors can learn more about the Trail
of Tears at a wide variety of sites. Places like Blythe Ferry, Tennessee. From August to November 1838 more than 9,000 Cherokees and Creeks paid to cross the Tennessee River on a small
ferry here. Village Creek, Arkansas where thousands of weary feet
cut a deep trail through the earth. Pea Ridge, Arkansas near the end of a long and
devastating journey, exhausted Cherokees gathered strength to
cover the final miles. These are just a few sites that have
been protected as a reminder of the grim realities of
the Trail of Tears. Over the years, the Cherokee Nation and its people have rebuilt and transformed. Today they are one of the largest Indian populations in the United States. The Cherokee Nation has regained many of its sovereign rights and is one
of the largest employers in eastern Oklahoma. Throughout it all, Cherokees have remained connected to
their traditional values. Here one will not hear the anguished
voice of a forgotten and broken people. Instead one might hear
the pride for people who faced overwhelming
adversity and persevered. In the mountains of North Carolina is the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
comprised in part of descendants have those Cherokees
who escaped the roundup and hid in the mountains. Today, as with their western relatives, they have flourished while retaining
their culture. The story of the Trail of Tears reveals
one of the darkest chapters of American history. It uncovers events of devastating
oppression, injustice, and cruelty, but this story also
brings to light acts of humanity and courage. It reveals
an enduring spirit of people that transcends race and today, if we explore this story and keep it
alive, it will not only serve as a stern
caution. It may also inspire. [Music]
