It’s ever amazing how many gaps there are in the U.S. educational construct in K-12 education. It is, of course, by design to promote a sense of national pride, compliance, and blind belief in a system without truly understanding the system. I can’t count the number of times spent reviewing and re-reviewing the American Revolution, defining Manifest Destiny, while skipping over the more inconvenient truths. One of which being the monumentous mistreatment of so many groups of people.
In the book Trails of Tears, Paths of Beauty (1999), Joseph Bruchac introduces readers to a bit of the background on the culture and beliefs of the Diné (Navajo) and the Aniyunwiya (Cherokee). It gives an overview of events leading up to the Cherokee Trail of Tears (1838 – 1839) and the Navajo Long Walk (1863 – 1866), the events that made up these two great tragedies, a brief run-through of what happened after, and where things stand “today” (as of the publishing of the book in 1999).
This is a great resource for a summary of the Long Walk and the Trail of Tears, the legal fights leading up to, the laws passed after, and the effects the U.S. government had on those impacted by the Indian Removal Act (1830), the Reservation Era (1850 – 1887), and allotment (the Dawes Act, 1887).
It’s 199 pages of history you likely won’t get in school, but a history that has such jarring parallels to other stories of forced removal, internment camps, colonization and the steps colonial governments take to criminalize and attempt to strip communities of their cultural ways, self-determination, and sovereignty.
Caia Rose 