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The Indian Removal Act and Indigenous People of the Southeast

    The map shows the states and territories of the southeastern U.S. as they were in the 1830s. The land of the Chuckasaw, Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee, and Seminole are shaded in and labeled. Lines connect those areas with the parts of Oklahoma that each tribe was forced into by Indian Removal. The lines show the routes that each tribe was made to walk on the Trails of Tears.
Source: User:Niklater. Own work. 4 Sep 2007. Background map courtesy of Demis, https://www.demis.nl/products/web-map-server/examples/. From Washburn (Hrsg.), Wilcomb E. (1988) Handbook of North American Indians, 4: History of Indian-White Relations, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press. Rights released by the copyright holder. Public domain via Wikipedia Commons. 
Routes of the Trails of Tears
 

In the early 1800s, many Native American tribes lived in what is now Alabama and other Southeastern states. These tribes included the Muscogee Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole. They had their own lands, governments, and ways of life.

    The painting is a portrait of a young man with light brown skin in the year 1843 sitting at a desk, wearing a formal suit. 
Artist: Charles Bird King (1785-1862). 1843. Source: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division: LC-USZC4-3156 Published in History of the Indian Tribes of North America. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. “The Library of Congress offers broad public access to these materials as a contribution to education and scholarship.”  
John Ross, chief of the Cherokee nation from 1828 to 1866
 

But as the United States grew, many white settlers wanted the land for themselves. They wanted space to build farms, especially for growing cotton. To get this land, the U.S. government passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830. This law said that Native American tribes had to leave their homes and move west, to lands across the Mississippi River.

Some tribes tried to stay by making deals or fighting in court. Others were forced out by soldiers. The Choctaw were the first to be removed. Many suffered from hunger, sickness, and death on the long journey west. This became known as the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Creek were also forced to leave their lands.

In 1836, some Muscogee Creek people resisted removal during the Second Creek War. But after the fighting, even more Creek families were forced to leave Alabama. The Seminole in Florida fought to stay, too, leading to many years of war.

These policies and wars had a huge impact. Native Americans lost their homes, lands, and ways of life. The U.S. government gave their land to white settlers, who turned it into farms and plantations. While Alabama’s economy grew, Native American families suffered great losses.

Today, the Muscogee Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole nations still exist, but they mostly live outside of Alabama and other Southeastern states. They continue to keep their cultures and histories alive, even after all they endured.


Source: The Indian Removal Act and Indigenous People of the Southeast
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