The Cherokee: Trail Where They Cried

1. The Cherokee: Trail Where They Cried Sara Jenkins Arizona Geographic Alliance Grade 5 2 class periods

2. Cherokee People The Cherokee people in the southeastern United States built European-style homes and farmsteads, developed a written language, established a newspaper, and wrote a constitution. But they had no equal protection under the law and could not prevent being removed from their homes on the Trail of Tears. http://www.nps.gov/trte/parknews/index.htm (Courtesy of Charles O. Walker, artist) http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/118trail/118getting.htm

3. Indian Removal Policy President Andrew Jackson began to aggressively implement a broad policy of Indian removal in the 1830s. This policy, combined with the discovery of gold on Cherokee land in northern Georgia in 1828, led to their removal to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) on the Trail of Tears. http://www.nps.gov/trte/historyculture/places.htm (Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Benjamin Nance, photographer) http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/118trail/118trail.htm

4. National Geography ELEMENT TWO: PLACES AND REGIONS 4. The physical and human characteristics of places. ELEMENT FOUR:HUMAN SYSTEMS 9. The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human population on Earth's surface. Arizona Strand 4 Geography Concept 4 Human Systems Grade 5 PO 1 Explain why and how boundaries change (e.g., Westward Expansion, Civil War, Mexican - American War). PO 2 Explain the effects of human migration on places (e.g., economic, cultural, environmental, political). Concept 5 Environment and Society PO 1 Describe the ways European colonists and Native Americans viewed, adapted, and used the environment. Standards

5. Grade 5 Strand 1 American History Concept 5: Westward Expansion PO 1. Describe the following events of 19th century presidencies of: a. Thomas Jefferson (Louisiana Purchase, explorations of Lewis and Clark), b. James Madison (War of 1812), c. James Monroe (The Monroe Doctrine), d. Andrew Jackson (Nationalism and Sectionalism, Trail of Tears), e. James Polk (Mexican-American War; discovery of gold in California). Standards http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/presidents/bio7.htm

6. Standards Strand 3 Civics Concept 4: Rights, Responsibilities, and Roles of Citizenship PO 2. Describe the character traits (i.e., respect, responsibility, fairness, involvement) that are important to the preservation and improvement of constitutional democracy in the United States. http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=004/llsl004.db&recNum=458

7. Reading Key Ideas and Details 5.RI.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text relevant to a grade 4 topicor subject area. Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity 5.RI.10 By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 4–5 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. ELA Common Core Standards

8. ELA Common Core Standards Writing Text Types and Purposes 5.W.2 a. Write informative explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. b. Introduce a topic clearly, provide a general observation and focus, and group related information logically; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension. c. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples related to the topic. d. Link ideas within and across categories of information using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., in contrast, especially). e. Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic. f. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the information or explanation presented.

9. ELA Common Core Standards Production and Distribution of Writing 5.W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. Language Conventions of Standard English5.L.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. a. Use punctuation to separate items in a series. b. Use a comma to separate an introductory element from the rest of the sentence. c. Use a comma to set off the words yes and no (e.g., Yes, thank you), to set off a tag question from the rest of the sentence (e.g., It’s true, isn’t it?), and to indicate direct address (e.g., Is that you, Steve?). d. Use underlining, quotation marks, or italics to indicate titles of works. e. Spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed.

10. Overview The forced travel of the Cherokee Nation of over a thousand miles was one of the saddest episodes in U.S. history. Approximately 4000 Cherokee died as a result of their removal from their land. The route they traversed and the journey itself became known as "The Trail of Tears" or, as a direct translation from Cherokee, "The Trail Where They Cried" (Nunna daul Tsuny) Purpose Students will listen to a reading of The Trail of Tears, which relates the results of European and Colonial American contact with the Cherokee Indians. The issue of why boundaries are changed will be explored.

11. Materials • The book The Trail of Tears by Joseph Bruchac, or a similar grade appropriate book • Worksheet • Wall map of the United States

12. Objectives The student will be able to: • understand the results of contact between the American and Cherokee cultures and how borders can be changed. • write a friendly letter.

13. Procedures Session One 1. Discuss the possible results of contact between different cultures. What could happen if visitors from outer space made contact with Earth? Possible answers:

14. Culture Contact • CULTURAL PLURALISM - The societies or groups with different cultures live side by side in peace. • ACCULTURATION - The cultures change and may even join to form a larger culture. Often the less powerful culture changes to become more like the more powerful culture. • EXPULSION - The less powerful society is driven out by the more powerful one. • SLAVERY - The less powerful society is conquered and its people turned into slaves. • SEGREGATION - The people of the two cultures are not allowed to mix, although one people may work for the other. • GENOCIDE - The people of the less powerful society are killed and their culture is wiped out. From: The Making of Our America prepared by the Social Science Staff of the Educational Research Council of America, 0-205-06793-X

15. Procedures 2. Using a wall map of the United States, show where the people of the Cherokee Nation once lived (North Carolina and Georgia) and where they now live (Oklahoma).

16. TRAIL OF TEARS 
NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL http://www.archaeology.ncdcr.gov/tears/trailmap.htm

17. Procedures 3. Distribute the worksheets to each student.

18. Procedures 4. Read the book, The Trail of Tears, to the students. As they hear answers to the worksheet questions, they should write them on the blank lines. 5. Discuss answers.

19. Procedures Session 2 6. Students write a summary addressing why and how the Cherokee were forced to leave their homeland. Writing Prompt: You are the grandparent of a Cherokee child in the fourth grade. Your grandchild has asked you to summarize how your ancestors came to live in Oklahoma from North Carolina. In several paragraphs you are to describe why they were sent away from their land and what the journey was like.

20. Assessment • Writing: The summary will be assessed using the 6-Trait Rubric on organization, voice, and conventions. A score of 4 or high will be considered mastery. • Reading and Geography: The summary will be assessed for correctness of details about the journey. Points can be assigned for correct details. The worksheet can be graded for correct vocabulary words in the blanks.

21. Extensions • Students could research the history of the Cherokee after they came to Oklahoma. • Students could compare the Trail of Tears of the Cherokee to the Long March of the Navajo people. • Read The Journey of Jesse Stone by Joseph Bruchac. • Read Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’dell.