The Trail of Tears is the name given to the forced relocation of Native American nations following the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The removal included many members of tribes who did not wish to assimilate. Many Native Americans suffered from disease and exposure, and somewhere between 2,000-6,000 Cherokee died on the trail. The Trail of Tears Diary includes interviews that reveals the extraordinary resilience of the Native American nations during the trail.
Pair “Excerpt from Trail of Tears” with “Ellis Island” to provide students with additional information about how native peoples in America were treated. How do both texts explore the change to Native Americans’ lives when their land was claimed by immigrants and explorers? How does the treatment of Native Americans contribute to the speaker’s conflicted feelings about America’s history in the poem?