Westward Expansion and the Holocaust bring about many examples of cruelty and pain. The list of these is endless and so we must focus on only a few. The Nazis began deporting Jews under the orders of Adolf Hitler. This is much like the Native Americans. The orders were given to the Cherokee to flee their land to a new reservation by General Winfield Scott. These two genocides are alike in their methods of deportation, the rebellious actions of their oppressed and the prison-like waiting areas before deportation. They are different in the groups targeted, their leaders, and their views on inter-racial and cultural beliefs. The Holocaust and Indian Removal are very similar in their rebellions. These actions were planned, often by groups among the oppressed. For example, a group of Native Americans called the Red Sticks rebelled and attacked Fort Mims in 1813. They were successful in the killing of approximately 400 people, but in the effort lost 20 million acres of land (“Society”). Similarly, in 1943 inhabitants of the European Ghettos rebelled. They fought with the knowledge that they were doomed for the camps and for honor (“Holocaust”). Another way the Holocaust and Indian Removal were similar is in their methods of deportation. “German railroad officials used both freight and passenger cars for the deportations” (“Deportation”).This is like the Americans’ methods. “Three Groups left in the summer, traveling from present day Chattanooga by rail…(“Trail”)” They are also alike in their prison-like living areas. According to historian Ellen Holmes Pearson, the Cherokees who refused to move were forced into stockades until they could be removed. Countless lives were lost in the prisons, and most who survived were forced to walk on... ... middle of paper ... ...s and loved. Works Cited “Indian Wars and Westward Expansion.” American Anthropological Association, 2007. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. . “Kristallnacht: The November 1938 Pogroms.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. . “Trail of 4,000 Tears, A.” National History Education Clearinghouse, 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. . “Trail of Tears: History and Culture.” National Parks Service, 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. . Gottfried, Ted. Deniers of the Holocaust: who they are, what they do, and why they do it. Brookfield , Connecticut : Twenty-First Century Books, 2001. Print. Hawker, Louise. Genocide in Ellie Wiesel’s Night. Detroit : Greenhaven Press, 2009. Print. Mancall, Peter. American Eras: Westward Expansion. Detroit : Gale Research, 1999. Print.
76. The Trail of Tears was a forced removal of Cherokee and other Indians from Georgia and the Western Appalachians to Indian Territory in Oklahoma and nearby regions.
The most noteworthy scene is the description of the Trail of Tears itself by exposing the deplorable conditions during the trail and in the remand prisons. During the fall and winter of 1838 and 1839, the Cherokee made their trip for over six months on the 800 miles trail through the Georgia countryside to Oklahoma Indian Territory (Burgan 4). While a few traveled by boats, many of the Cherokees travelled on land. The scene where the sick and the elderly succumbed to the journey and the struggles of women carrying their babies is touching. The Cherokee march through difficult weather conditions across the snowy trails during winter. Many of them died while others, who survived the journey, lived to tell about nu na hi du na tlo hi lu i or ‘the trail where they cried.’ Those held in the camps were among the last groups to move. They found that the trail resources had been depleted by marchers before them. Consequently, most of them succumbed to starvation and
The United States government's relationship with the Native American population has been a rocky one for over 250 years. One instance of this relationship would be what is infamously known as, the Trail of Tears, a phrase describing a journey in which the Native Americans took after giving up their land from forced removal. As a part of then-President Andrew Jackson’s Indian Removal Act, this policy has been put into place to control the natives that were attempting to reside peacefully in their stolen homeland. In the viewpoint of the Choctaw and Cherokee natives, removal had almost ultimately altered the culture and the traditional lifestyle of these people.
The removal of Indian tribes was one of the tragic times in America’s history. Native Americans endured hard times when immigrants came to the New World. Their land was stolen, people were treated poorly, tricked, harassed, bullied, and much more. The mistreatment was caused mostly by the white settlers, who wanted the Indians land. The Indians removal was pushed to benefit the settlers, which in turn, caused the Indians to be treated as less than a person and pushed off of their lands. MOREEE
“The United States and the Holocaust.” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.
Since the beginning of European colonization whites have taken Native American’s lands in order to expand their own settlements. Throughout the years there have been many disputes and up rises because Indians have refused to give up or sell their lands. With an escalating white population, Native American communities have been disintegrated, killed in conflicts, or forced to move into Indian Territories. The year of 1828 would again demonstrate how white settlers would obtain Native American’s lands with the Cherokee Indian Removal. Known as the Trail of Tears, the Cherokees would start their tragic journey to Indian Territory in which thousands of Indians would die along the way and soon after their arrival due to illnesses or violent encounters. The Cherokee Indian Removal was not only cruel but injustice, the Cherokees shouldn’t have ceded their lands because before the removal they attempted to be “civilized” by the Americans giving up their cultural and religious beliefs and the federal government by treaty had to protect Indians from any state oppressions.
Evens, Richard; Gotfried, Ted; Lipsadt, Deborah; Zimmerman ,John; Sherman, Michael; Globman, Alex. “Holocaust Encyclopedia.” http://www.ushmm.org United States Holocaust
The removal of the Cherokee Indians from their lands in the southeast is the largest Indian relocation in American history (Sides 362). It was unjust for the Americans to seize Indian land in order to make room for more Americans and immigrants. The Indians had done nothing to deserve this type of brutal treatment. These Indians had no way of fighting back to the Americans, so it was both unfair and unjust. The Trail of Tears, or as Indians called it The Trail where the Wept, was a trail of sickness and despair (Ehle 385). No person should ever have to go through what the Cherokees and other tribes went through. Even though the Americans had some viable reasons to desire the Indian land, they had no right of forcibly removing the Indians out without all of their consent.
The other side of the story to our great American history is not as pretty as they teach us in grade school. The American Holocaust by David Stannard is a novel full of live excerpts from eyewitnesses to the genocide of the American Indians. He goes as far as to describe what life was most likely like before Europeans came to the Americas and obliterated the "Paradise" so described. Columbus even wrote how beautiful the places were in which he committed acts against the Natives so horrific, it was hard to read about, let alone talk about. The Natives were so innocent and naive, that when Columbus would "show them his sword" they would grab the end and in effect slice open their hand. These people had no chance of survival once the Europeans came with their EXTREME religious ideals and power hungry minds. Stannard's strength in his work is how he gives detailed accounts of incidents to back up his theories. The only weakness of his book is that there were times when further description was unnecessary. There are only so many ways to describe babies getting their heads bashed against rocks, and he described every one of them. Perhaps it is more my weakness for reading about it then his weakness for writing it. Overall, this book ranges and compares major genocide throughout history from Nazi Germany to Stalin, and even compares how Europe was before Columbus was sent over. Stannard's wide range of history is well put together in order to give the reader the full effect of how this "American Holocaust" came into effect.
of tears because many Indians had to walk several miles just to get to new land established for them and
Ehle, John. Trail of Tears: The Rise and Fall of the Cherokee Nation. New York: Anchor Press, 1988.
The Kristallnacht was said to be the beginning of the Holocaust and what started the Voyage of the St. Louis. It was a bad way to start off the boarding and sailing of the St. Louis. The Kristallnacht also referred as the “Night of Crystal” or the “Night of Broken Glass” destroyed about 7,000 homes and hundreds of synagogues in Germany. The Nazi troops arrested thousands of people in
It’s the year 1838 and the Cherokee Indians are being forced out of their homeland onto land west of the Mississippi River. With no choice but to relocate, the Cherokee Indians are obligated to leave everything they have worked for behind and embark on a long journey to Oklahoma that would ultimately kill many of them. This is what we know today to be the “Trail of Tears” (Byers).
While they migrated, they had faced hunger, many deadly diseases, and much exhaustion. Over 4,000 out of the 15,000 that migrated had died. The Trail of Tears commemorates the suffering of the Cherokee people who were forced for removal, of where they had settled. If any arts from the Cherokee were left as a symbol
The Cherokee people called this journey “The Trail of Tears”, because of its devastating effects. The trail of tears started in 1836 and ended in 1839. The Cherokee walked about 2,200 miles(3,500km). The Cherokee were Helpless and Defenseless during the trail of tears.