AURA

is a random sample of manifest destiny solving what the American pioneers called the “Indian problem”. The U. S. Army drove the Cherokees from Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee on a forced march to Oklahoma in 1838, during which many died on what they quite logically called the Trail of Tears. Thanks in part to the tribe’s being the only North American Indian group with a written language at the time of this horror, their story is not completely ignored. Although they had also developed a body of law, it was no help to them under the circumstances. “The Trail of Tears” (very short) film tells their story as does a museum exhibit at the Cherokee Heritage Center in Tahlequah, Oklahoma southeast of Tulsa. Sine put in a few links I told him about.

● What happened

● The film

● Cherokee Heritage Center exhibit

● Cherokee Heritage Center hours, directions, contact

● 10 day weather forecast