Tradition: The Trail of Tears Singing | Periscope

Tradition: The Trail of Tears Singing

Every year since 1968, the Snowbird Cherokee have held a ceremony called "The Trail of Tears Singing." The ceremony is held in memory of the Cherokee who were forcibly moved to Oklahoma in the 1800s. Cherokee people from Oklahoma travel to North Carolina to enjoy the company of their distant relatives. Singing, traditional food, and other activities link the eastern and western Cherokee as one again, and people enjoy singing and speaking in the Cherokee language. 

Standards

• 4.3.CE Analyze the effects of government policies in promoting United States territorial expansion into the west.
• 8.3.CC Analyze debates and efforts to recognize the natural rights of marginalized groups during the period of expansion and sectionalism.
• This indicator was designed to encourage inquiry into the continuities and changes of the experiences of marginalized groups such as African Americans, Native Americans and women, as the U.S. expanded westward and grappled with the development of new states.
  • This indicator was developed to encourage inquiry into the debates, heightened by Westward Expansion, over federal and state power concerning slavery, and the government’s role in protecting and securing natural rights.