Trail Of Tears History

In history classes students are briefly taught about the Trail of Tears and many never think of it again. This historic event is an attempt at the eradication of a race of people just like the Holocaust but history is written by the victors so the awful treatment of the Native Americans is summed up to two words, "Manifest Destiny." So much Indian history was lost along the Trail of Tears where over 5,000 Cherokees died or went missing because almost nothing was kept on record and almost everything was word of mouth (History.com). The rare books and manuscripts that do remain are safely preserved in museums and special libraries like the ones here at the University of Georgia where everyone is granted access to the material upon request. The …show more content…
Elias Boudinot played a huge role in the success of this work. With the help of Samuel Worchester, an English missionary, the pair translated somewhere between 16 to 23 literary works over the span of a single decade, this was a huge feat for the time period (GA Writers Hall of Fame). Their first publication, Cherokee Hymns, was also the first book printed using Sequoyah’s syllabary. Many pocket sized copies were mass produced for the Cherokee people to learn the Christian hymns and to carry around in the pockets of their new "white man" …show more content…
This book and its author stood in between the Cherokee people and their extinction. If they hadn 't tried so hard to assimilate to the culture of the white men I believe their fate would have been sealed much sooner and quite possibly would have been much more harsh. I was lucky enough to hold one of the copies of Cherokee Hymns on file in the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The book was entirely written in the characters of Sequoyah 's syllabary except for the title Cherokee Hymns, the names Elias Boudinot and Samuel Worchester, and the title of each hymn. I could only make out two words, grace and lord, from the hymns I knew. The pocket sized book was 50 pages long. It included an index and held 33 different hymns. The copy that I held was bound in red leather by its owner. The pages were ragged and torn exactly where they had been turned so many times. Coffee had been spilt on one of the pages and it bled through most of the book. The book was well used but I could tell it was loved by someone. Having the access to this book and being able to hold a piece of my heritage in my hands was a very moving experience for me. Holding that book in my hands made me wonder about the first Cherokee who touched it and the last. I wondered if they took it with them on the Trail of Tears and handed