The Trail of Tears refers to the forced removal of the Cherokee from their land in Georgia. This took place after the Removal Act authorized the U.S. government to seize Indian land and relocate tribes to newly purchased territory west of the Mississippi. Around 4,000 Cherokee died on the journey. The Cherokee called their removal nunna daul isunyi, or “the trail where they cried.”
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Trail of Tears Term Timeline in The Inconvenient Indian
The timeline below shows where the term Trail of Tears appears in The Inconvenient Indian. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4. One Name to Rule Them All
...deaths of 4,000 of the 17,000 forced to flee their native land. King sees the Trail of Tears as “the largest massacre of Native people in North American history.” Although no records exist...
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