Departure
The Trail of Tears is a historical period taught to nearly all students in early education about American history. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 is a piece of legislation from Andrew Jackson that removed Native Americans from the southeast. The developed societies of the Five Great Nations, including the Cherokee, Choctaw and Seminole tribes, were forcibly displaced from their original settlements to areas west of the Mississippi River, solely for the sake of expansion of American territory.
Tribes in the Florida region, primarily Seminoles, fought against the oppression, but with little success. Colonists would capture some of the indigenous populations and force them into slave labor. Some assimilated with the American imperialists by adopting the English language, converting to Christianity and adopting concepts of land ownership, while others migrated away to attempt to preserve their culture.
The migrations were extremely difficult for the Native Americans. The unjust nature of their displacement combined with the despair of leaving behind their homelands and long-developed civilizations for unsettled territory created a bitter context which they had to accept for their own survival.
Tribes in the Florida region, primarily Seminoles, fought against the oppression, but with little success. Colonists would capture some of the indigenous populations and force them into slave labor. Some assimilated with the American imperialists by adopting the English language, converting to Christianity and adopting concepts of land ownership, while others migrated away to attempt to preserve their culture.
The migrations were extremely difficult for the Native Americans. The unjust nature of their displacement combined with the despair of leaving behind their homelands and long-developed civilizations for unsettled territory created a bitter context which they had to accept for their own survival.