The Indian Removal Act
of 1830, followed by the Trail of Tears, proved to be more than just an agreement
of American settlement. The Act of 1830 would restrict Natives to uninhabitable
land and truly bring to light the cruelty of their reality.
Historian Andrew Denson helps to describe the aftermath of such injustice. “After
the Trail of Tears, the town disappeared.
The buildings decayed or were dismantled for their materials, and white Georgians
took the land to plow and plant.” As the
Native-Americans were getting their land slowly taken away from white settlers,
they were forced to sign treaties and agreements to stop this forced exodus and
made peace to be able to keep their peace. The
Trail of Tears acts as a symbol for the exodus to lands in the west like
Oklahoma. What is known is a devastating amount of death and diseases occurring
during their migration out of their stolen lands. It
is in the Trail of Tears and other forced migrations that numerous amounts of
cultures began to die. While many suffered certain cultures, through the
passing of traditions, would emerge from these catastrophic events and continue
to be implemented to be significant in Native-American society today.
Historians that have studied and analyzed Native-American cultures and the
Trail of Tears have recorded the destruction of the Native-American people but
do not touch upon the effects it has on today’s cultural practices.
Recognizing
the cultural components of Native-American society helps to open up new doors
of understanding. This helps to view Native-American society through a
different window; one that may obstruct certain views that are redundant and
already known. Ultimately understanding the history behind cultural arts and
symbols can bring to light views that no one has ever bothered to glance at.
Although documentation of cultures is hard to find, the historical relevance of
the few that exist offer a history that is “chronological and mundane, [as] it
integrates the Creeks into a narrative of events already familiar…” This view
on Native-American society offers a new mode of clarity and understanding, and
helps to view American settlement and expansion through the lens of cultures
that are affected, and, thus, the people that have been neglected.
To conclude
this week, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 that resulted in the mass forced
migration of thousands of Native-Americans into the western regions of the
country, also known as the Trail of Tears, was legislation that caused far more
than a massive exodus of a society. It resulted in the deaths of thousands of
innocent people, an event with so much catastrophic impact, that it is still a matter of
controversy today. Another result of this restrictive legislation was in the disintegration of a vibrant culture, which was shared by so many. I
argue, then, that Native-American cultures emerge in today’s Native-American
societies because of their diligence and triumph over colonial powers. Through
their own journey, they prove to be of significance to society although their
numbers are limited and their works are often seen as unique combination
nature, creative expression and one’s own experiences. The voices of the
Native-American’s were simply unheard and this resulted in a near extinction of
their people. Albeit, their ancestor’s cries from oppression were unheard and
lost, the shout for freedom and peace will continue to be heard through their
modes of cultural expression.
Sources
Andrew
Denson, “Remembering Cherokee Removal in Civil Rights-Era Georgia,” Southern Cultures 14/4 (Winter 2008):
90.
Claudio
Saunt, “Telling Stories: The Political Uses of Myths and History in the
Cherokee and Creek Nations,” The Journal
of American History 93/3 (December 2006): 673.
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