Historical perspective on an event can vary dramatically depending on whether or not the person describing the event was involved in the event itself and if involved, how so; the amount of time between the event and the history; the existence of bias in sources used in studying the event; and the degree to which the experience is part of the author's cultural heritage. As an historical event the Trail of Tears, the story of the Cherokee removal from the southeastern U.S. to Oklahoma, is no exception. In the activity below your job as a student of the history of this event is to reflect on who is telling the story and how their telling may be colored by their own experiences, beliefs, and sources.
1) Identify according to the information in the map where and when the first 5 secessions of Cherokee land occurred.
2) Approximately one third of the Cherokee population migrated west to Arkansas after the secessions of 1819. From where did they move?
3) Examine a biography of Daniel Boone and explain how his explorations are reflected in the shrinking limits of Cherokee territory.