Below are excerpts from an article written by Jill Ingram in today’s Asheville Citizen-Times, my hometown newspaper:
“Some of more than 20 routes and sites in Western North Carolina may be considered for addition to the historic Cherokee Trail of Tears.
The Trail of Tears is the collective name for multiple routes, on both water and land, which about 16,000 Cherokee traveled under different detachments during a forced western deportation in 1838 and 1839 under the orders of President Andrew Jackson.
Although nearly 3,000 Cherokee who were forced to march were from North Carolina and about 9,000 were from Georgia, routes through those states are not designated portions of the trail.
Between 4,000 and 8,000 people died during the journey. The length of the journey varied depending on the route taken, but averaged about 1,000 miles.
Many of those who survived eventually settled on a reservation in Oklahoma, now the home of the more than 255,000-member Cherokee Nation. Cherokee who resisted the march eventually formed what is now the 13,300-member Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, on land in WNC bordered by Jackson and Swain counties and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Russell Townsend is a member of the Cherokee Nation who works in the Eastern Band’s Historic Preservation Office.
Recognizing routes and sites relevant to the trail serves a contemporary purpose, Townsend said.
“It’s important because it’s a reminder to people who now occupy (what was once) the Cherokee nation and aren’t Cherokee that the land was acquired at bayonet point,” he said.
Larry Blythe, vice president of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and Chadwick Smith, principal chief of Oklahoma’s Cherokee Nation, were in Washington last month for the introduction of the Trail of Tears Documentation Act, which directs the Interior Department to review new evidence and complete the historical picture through markers and other forms of recognition.
Smith called the Cherokee plight a “travesty of justice, sham of public policy and disdain for human dignity.”
Most lawmakers — including many from the South — were mum in 1830 when Jackson sought to remove the tribes. Davy Crockett was the lone Tennessee congressman to oppose the plans and lost re-election as a result.”
Davy Crockett was a great man. My question is: why the hell is President Jackson’s face still on our $20 bills?
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What has always really ticked me off about Jackson was that he fought side by side the Cherokee in the war of 1812 and committed friendship to them, and then turned! So glad to hear my native land is going to remember more of its history - so many of us have some Cherokee blood in us (even though we don’t look it
I know. I think we should have a picture of a casino on our currency.
He was indeed a great man and deserves more recognition.
Great post!!
Thanks for the history lesson. Didn’t know that about Davy Crockett. They never showed you that in the movie…
My little sis idolized Davy when she was little. I think every picture of her that we have at the age of 4, she is donning a coon-skin cap. Interesting post. And I’m reading a series that mentions Asheville in it. I would never have recognized Asheville if it hadn’t been for you!
What are you reading, AM?
Probably for the same messed up reason that many people think that Lincoln was a great president. If people learned all the information, or cared to learn it, this world would be mighty different.
I’m trying to think of who I would prefer to see on the $20 bill. Maybe FDR? Kick Jefferson up from the 2?
EM,
BlogAsheville wants to invite you to contribute at the site. If you’re interested, then email Uptown Ruler at blogasheville@hotmail.com to let him know.
Interesting post.
I like your informational posts like this. Most of the time, I have never even heard of this stuff.
Have a great weekend!!
SH,
The ultimate irony would be to kick Sacajawea up from the $1 coin–a woman and a Native American!
Thanks for the invite to contribute. I’ll check it out.
EM- I’m reading the Million Dollar Mysteries series by Mindy Starns Clark. My brother-in-law is going to Asheville tomorrow. I told him to look for a writer typing furiously in a coffee shop!